Yin-Yang: One to Ignite, One to Rekindle
by Ooobserver
Summary: Trust has returned to the once passionate couple of Ooo. Sadly though, emotions have stirred that have driven Finn away from the fire elemental he still cares for deep in his heart. Both teens seek out a friend to replace the void in their cores, but what shall transpire when their new companions not only have a past together but just manage to remind the two of each other?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Adventure Time or any of its assets, just my OCs.**_

* * *

The bubbling of lava from outside was the sole sound filling the empty throne room of the Fire Kingdom. It was late evening, with the warm red colors of the molten rock producing a gorgeous aura of light across the lands. This glow poured through the windows of the palace, filling it as well with the pleasant source of crimson.

Even with the heavenly light show however, the mood of the fiery girl sitting upon the throne could not be lifted. She was the single being within the chamber, as the former ruler of the kingdom had been relocated to the dungeons after everyone realized how annoying he was suspended from the ceiling. With that, the new flame king was left by herself in the large and severely empty throne room, contemplating the events of that day.

She sniffled, and then wiped away the final tear that had just managed to escape her eye. The smudge of lava was cast off of her finger and landed with a light sizzle on the volcanic floor below. Even though the worst of the ruler's upset reaction was now over, she was still quite down at what had transpired. As the light of the magma outside continued to brighten the room regardless of the setting sun, Flame Princess gazed up at the front gate to the palace, holding her eyes there as if expecting someone to come through and return to her.

"Why…why did it come to this?"

She closed her eyes.

"Is it my fault, for still caring about him so much?"

Her mind's clock turned back to several hours earlier, when her most treasured friend had made his choice to temporarily break away from her, convinced his emotions were close to shattering the locks he had placed on them and jeopardizing their relationship…

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

_The flame king was busy as always, organizing various projects and posting royal decrees to keep the kingdom in line. Sitting with a table in front of her, the young ruler was swiftly sorting through various documents; papers that confirmed or denied dozens of different acts that required her permission to implement. Every few seconds, she would stamp a page with the Fire Kingdom seal, proving that she had at least looked at it. _

_It was near impossible to read them word for word, nothing would ever get done. The king was forced to skim constantly and even then it still took hours to get through the entire stack of orders. Periodically, FP would sigh, feeling like her job would never end, which was technically true, unless someone felt like overthrowing her, and that wouldn't exactly be the best move. At this point however, the fire elemental would almost welcome a nice kick out of the palace._

_She'd been running the place for a little over two years now, carefully restructuring the society of her violent and deceitful people to become a prosperous and well-rounded nation among the kingdoms of Ooo. It had been successful, producing ties with several former enemies and new allies from lands that seemed beyond possibility._

_As FP was reflecting on the irritating routines of royalty, she suddenly lost her grip on the stamp she was using, which flew into the air. She gasped, knowing it would be a real pain to retrieve such a small object from the mess of citizens, documents, and garbage spread around the throne room. _

_Luckily enough though, a quick hand caught the item just in time, firmly grasping it with expert accuracy and slowly bringing it in and handing it back to Flame Princess. The ruler smiled, gazing with thanks at the person who made her duties just bearable enough to push on._

_Finn was grinning warmly from the spot next to her, where he was assisting the king with the approvals and rejections. The human has spent several months studying the laws and regulations of the Fire Kingdom, determined to make himself qualified to judge the piles of acts and requests that were filed to FP every day. She, of course, couldn't ask for a more dedicated friend. _

_Deep within her mind though, Flame Princes knew there was a part of her that still had feelings for the boy, a part that had ultimately forgiven him for his immature actions and actually hoped that one day they could possibly start over, as more than just friends. Sadly, that day seemed quite far off, evidenced by the endless work that they now both endured almost daily._

_Obviously Finn couldn't come over every time, there were other responsibilities the hero had to the rest of Ooo, which had only become more difficult since his brother Jake had gone on an ominous journey to the edge of the continent several weeks prior. His only words of his quest were that he had to do it alone and that he had to do it for his beloved Lady Rainicorn. Finn respected his sibling's decision, regardless of his hidden objection._

_Now here he was, giving up what little free time was available to him to help the fiery girl with her necessary affairs. The two had actually proven to be quite the team, with a near perfectly synchronized cycle of actions that significantly reduced the time taken to originally get through the paperwork. Whenever the pair broke their old record, they would celebrate by using the gained free time to go out and have some fun, usually by surfing on a magma stream or messing with a group of lava golems on the outskirts of the city._

_At long last the final 'thump' was delivered onto the surface of a summons to court for a recent criminal. The documents for the day were finished. Flame Princess fell back into her throne, exhausted mentally, but luckily only her hand was cramped up, meaning that if they had increased their pace from the last best one, she could still hang out with Finn after the palace business was finalized. The throne room's occupants began filtering out, leaving just a few inhabitants besides the king and her friend. _

"_So, how'd we do?"_

_FP waited patiently as the flame shielded human tapped a stack of papers on the table and looked to the scheduling sheet nearby. He smiled with a sense of triumph at the results and turned to inform her majesty. _

"_A full eight minutes earlier than that one crazy fast run we did a week ago."_

_If her arms weren't so unresponsive due to constantly using them, FP would've jumped over and hugged the hero to show her excitement at the achievement. Then she thought, 'eh, what the heck.'_

_With some significant effort, the flame king reached over and stretched her hands out to grasp around the boy's body. Unfortunately, they weren't quite long enough and she ended up flailing them in frustration. Finn noticed the ruler's struggle and grinned while shaking his head. He moved over to the throne and allowed the fiery girl to finally complete her intended act._

"_Way to go Finn! We're awesome!"_

_The human laughed at the comment, happy that his friend was filled with joy at the success of that day. After a minute however, he felt something change. FP's gleeful jitters had stopped. At that moment, the fire elemental was no longer giving him an excited embrace, she had her eyes closed and her expression seemed relaxed, as if taking time to enjoy the position she was in._

_Feeling nervous, the hero gently separated himself from the hug, making the king look upon him with worry. A few seconds later though, she realized what she'd been doing and quickly turned away from the human._

"_Sorry; got carried away."_

_Finn brushed it off and tapped the armored shoulder of his friend's royal garb, smiling humbly._

"_It's fine FP. So, you want to go back to that one volcano? I heard it blew out more lava, it should make the surf down even more awesome."_

_The flame king gazed excitedly back to the boy and stood up._

"_Heck yeah! Let's go!"_

_The two teenagers were about to race off toward the front gate before a voice sounded urgently from the side of the room. _

"_Wait! Your highness! There's one more!"_

_A castle informant ran up to the pair, waving a single paper in his hand. The poor guy panted for a few seconds before handing the slip to Finn. The human examined the form for a moment before his expression sank to one of mixed regret and sadness. FP noticed and immediately inquired._

"_What's wrong Finn; you want help with that one?"_

_The hero closed his eyes and lowered his head, holding out the document to the king. She accepted it with concern._

"_Actually, I can't do this one…because __**I **__was the one who requested it."_

_Flame Princess's thoughts drifted into confusion. If it was something he himself had written up why was he so disheartened by it? After staring at the boy for a moment, FP took the time to fully read the paper. Her eyes grew wider as she went further and further down the page. Finishing, the girl looked back to the human in shock and dismay._

"_Finn…this is…why would you…request an assistant for me? You're already the best one for the job! I mean, I'm not obligating you but why are you sending this in?"_

_Her voice was growing more scared by the minute, not helped by the hero's lack of response. The informant had politely back off, sensing the tension in the air. Eventually, Finn gazed over into the fiery ruler's amber eyes, which were practically trembling._

"_FP, I…I need to get away…from you…for a little while."_

_The king could barely keep herself from tearing the document in her hand to pieces from the strain of taking in her friend's words._

"_Wh-what? Why?"_

_Her tone was pleading, revealing how lost she was as to her companion's actions. Finn looked away, instead staring out to the side of the throne room._

"_I've…been having trouble holding back __**those **__feelings, and I don't want to risk upsetting you with old emotions."_

_He gazed back to Flame Princess._

"_I think we need some time apart so that my head can filter out these thoughts. I did what I could to make today the best possible, including the extra fast speed at which I was working so that we could have one last hangout. So, after we're done surfing lava, I'm gonna head out, and stay out, for some time."_

_The flame king's face seemed close to bursting with tears._

"_But…Finn…we can work past that. I understand that you still feel that way sometimes but that's no reason to just leave. Please, don't do this, you're my best friend."_

_The human held up the stamp he had been using, trying not to look the fire elemental in the eyes as he encouraged her to sign the request. FP stared at the object for a moment before suddenly slapping it out of his hand, making it bounce several feet away. Her face was contorted with both despair and anger._

"_NO! This is rhombus Finn! Stop being so stupid!"_

_The human recovered quickly from her outburst and silently walked over to pick up the stamp. He headed back over to the fiery girl and gave her a piercing and pleading look in the eyes._

"_Flame Princess, just do it, please, I need this. I care about our friendship too much to risk so much because of my lack of control. Just give me a few weeks."_

_He was basically begging at this point; even prepared to get down to his knees. The flame king stared at him in continued disbelief, but the hero could sense that she was slowly giving in. In a flash, she snatched the stamp from his hand and turned to the table they had set up to work. She stomped over to it and harshly smashed the seal of the Fire Kingdom onto the document, holding it out for the informant to take to the proper channels. The fairly nervous man reluctantly took hold of the paper and bounded as quickly as possible out of the palace._

_Finn walked over and reached up to place a hand on her shoulder, but declined the last second and simply sighed._

"_You still want to go surfing?"_

_After a minute of waiting, the boy watched the ruler nod weakly and turn around. Her head was hung low enough that he couldn't quite see her eyes. Finn frowned sadly, wishing it hadn't come to this. However, it was something he needed to do and he hoped Flame Princess would accept that._

"_Come on," he said, motioning for the king to follow him out of the throne room._

_The fiery girl said no words as they headed down the short corridor to the front gate, nor as they exited through the doors. She didn't even say anything while flying herself and Finn all the way to the volcano's peak, where they both grabbed a slab of molten rock and prepared to slide down the glowing orange stream._

_Although she did her best to hide it, there were thin streaks of lava traveling down her cheeks._

_She did not have any fun for the entire activity._

_o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o_

Flame Princess stood up from her throne and began making her way to bed, driven to the brink of passing out from all the emotional strain of the day. Perhaps a good rest would clear things up. While strolling down the hallway, she recalled Finn's final words before he left the kingdom:

_I'm sure you could find another friend just as good as me if not better. Heh, just don't forget about me, ok?_

The last part was meant as a joke, but FP took it seriously, thinking how absurd it would be to misplace the human in her mind. He was her most valued confidant, a person who had taken the time to earn her trust back and become a beloved friend. Where would she be without him?

As FP made it to her room and simply collapsed into bed, she let out one last sob, feeling as if she had just lost a part of her heart.

* * *

Crickets chirped steadily as Finn entered the tree fort, still holding a frown that was glued to his face since he had departed the Fire Kingdom. The boy set down his pack and proceeded to climb up the hollow ladder in the willow to reach the bathroom. He was covered in a fair bit of ash from the lava surfing and definitely didn't feel comfortable sleeping in such a state.

After a quick five minute shower, the boy dried off his golden hair and quickly brushed it so as to not wake up with a rather unpleasant hairdo. Finn had abandoned his bear hat a while ago, leaving it in his treasure room as a reminder of the old days when he and Jake went around kicking evil butts and grabbing loot. Jake had become more distant after Finn's sixteenth birthday, regularly heading out on solo missions or trips without telling his bro where he was going.

It made the human sad to think he was being intentionally left out, but he didn't question it, the dog had his own serious agenda and there was no need to interfere when the magical canine had pleaded regularly for his sibling to not bother with the activities. While it was noble to remain such a loyal homie, Finn was left on his own a majority of the time.

Of course, this issue was fixed by offering to help Flame Princess, giving the boy almost a daily dose of hang time with the fiery girl. True it was mostly to help her with kingly duties but he didn't mind, it was all the better to see the fire elemental happy for his assistance. That smile; it made him feel warm inside, and unfortunately, became the problem.

Finn sighed as he let himself fall on his back into bed, pooped from the day's events and greatly troubled at how badly Flame Princess had taken his temporary leave. He really didn't want to ditch the overworked king, but there was no better option than what he had come up with. In a few weeks, his mind would settle down and he could return, eager to resume his promised assistance to the fire elemental.

A loud yawn escaped him, letting him know it was time to go to sleep. Finn reached up to his bedside table, preparing to snuff out the small candle he kept there to light up the room at night. However, he hesitated, gazing into the flame with a mixture of sadness and longing. He wasn't trying to deny it; he still felt a great attraction to FP, so much that a certain piece of his heart would always hope for her to one day be back in his reach, this time with the added benefit of not being as much of an immature and reckless kid.

Finn just couldn't bring himself to extinguish the light, feeling as if he'd caused enough harm to fire for one day. The boy frowned again and sat back against his bed board, thinking of how to deal with his own decision. For one, he had to get his mind off of Flame Princess, as was the whole point of his departure.

He remembered what he had said to the flame king: find a friend to keep her company. Perhaps he should take his own advice. After all, without either Jake or FP, what could the human possible do all day? There weren't nearly enough monsters to fight as there had been a year or two ago, since most of them understood not to mess with villages and kingdoms while Finn was on the job.

The boy had reached the point in every hero's life where the evil guys just wouldn't even try anymore. It was remarkably boring, in addition to the fact that every known dungeon had been practically emptied out by the young adventurer. The treasure room was difficult to navigate through at this point; one had to more or less swim through waist high piles of gold coins and jewels.

The candle was steadily growing shorter. Finn decided he would fall asleep when the flame died out on its own, still refusing to harm the gentle combustion dancing upon the wick. Tomorrow's plans ran through his mind as the flame came closer and closer to the bottom. The human decided that in the morning he would take a map of Ooo, pin it to the wall, and fire a dart at it blindfolded. That way, it was a guaranteed adventure to find a new companion to hang out with, and who knows, they may become a righteous friend who could be there at any time, sure to keep the hero busy with various journeys as his new counterpart.

The fire on the wax flickered dangerously, having run out of space to keep moving down. The melted material formed a messy perimeter around the dying flame, spilling some of its contents onto the wood of the table. Finn didn't worry about it; he just allowed his lids to cover up his blue eyes, casting him into hopeful dreams of the future as the gentle flame went dark.

* * *

**_This idea has been stuck in my head for like a month and I figured I should get it out. So...should I go on?_**

**_Please tell me what you think. Later._**


	2. Chapter 2

Flame Princess felt like an old lady the next morning. Every joint in her body seemed to be either stiff or sore. It was her own fault though for falling asleep in her clunky royal armor. It became so painful just trying to get to the door that she groaned and gave up. She figured the armor was mostly for intimidation, but since everyone in the kingdom was basically cool now there wasn't really a need for that.

"Forget this junk."

With that, the girl threw off the plated suit and used her flames to recreate an elegant dress to wear instead. After a quick look in the mirror, she smiled, thinking that the new look was much more becoming of a ruler. It seemed so nice that her mind began to trip over itself while she thought out loud.

"I can't wait till Finn sees th-"

FP suddenly frowned and lowered her head, remembering that the human wouldn't be there to greet her in the throne room like he usually did. She shook the problem out of her mind, determined not to allow it to distract her from the day's duties. As the fiery girl made her way down the palace's corridors, she could still feel the sting in her chest from what happened yesterday.

The castle servants who passed her by easily noticed the king's flattened mood, but offered no words of comfort, thinking it may be better to just let her move on with what happened. Today would be as busy as always, with another boatload of papers that needed signing. FP sighed, wondering how the hours would drag on without Finn by her side.

Upon taking her place in her throne, the king gazed depressingly at the table before her, covered almost completely in the fireproof documents she so hated. As she continued to stare at the irritating work, a pair of footsteps was heard approaching the ruler. FP turned to see a cheerful looking fire elemental walking over to her.

The man took a bow then resumed his bashful expression.

"Greetings your highness. I shall act as your new-"

"Temporary," the girl interrupted.

"Um, yes. Temporary assistant."

The newcomer hid the slight nervousness in his voice, knowing that he wasn't exactly welcomed entirely by his ruler. After a moment of awkward silence, the male elemental recovered his enthusiastic grin and rubbed his hands together.

"Would you like to get started, my king?"

FP nodded slowly and set her eyes back on the table. Her assistant made his way next to her and took hold of several stacks of papers.

"I have been briefed on the style in which you and the human cycle these orders, rest assured this will take no time at all. I've been doing this since before you were born!"

He chuckled to himself as he took a stamp and began rapidly skimming through the various proposals. Flame Princess however, only curled her fists on the surface of the desk and frowned with a hint of agitation.

"His name, is Finn."

The assistant caught the message of the statement, glancing nervously over to his king while marking a multitude of papers with the seal.

"My apologizes, your majesty, I was not trying to offend the boy."

FP grunted lightly, confirming that the man had been forgiven. He returned to his work as the king proceeded to pick up several pages herself. The pace she began at was grossly disproportionate to the one she had been having for the past month or so, she was getting through about one request a minute, while the man beside her was already up to a stack taller than the fiery monarch.

Flame Princess remained at this speed for the following hours, holding the rhythm steadily as people on business started piling into the palace to take care of dozens of tasks and meetings. Soon enough, no distinct conversation could be heard amongst the fiery citizens, only merged chatter as arguments, discussions, and negotiations rang all around the volcanic walls of the room.

As noon swung around, the flame king noticed how little she had accomplished, gazing sadly at the stack she'd sorted through. It was barely an inch thick. Looking over, she was fairly shocked to see how much progress her new assistant had managed. His side of the table was nearly clear, as minute by minute he called for several servants to take the stacks he'd completed away for implementation and filing. He seemed to be enjoying himself actually. One could only guess that his life-long career of documentation had forced him to make it his only source of enjoyment. Either that or he was just a really passionate kingdom official.

FP didn't really care about that though, she felt ashamed that the absence of a certain important person had caused her to falter to such an extent. Why couldn't she hold it together? As the final slip was struck with a seal on the assistant's section of the desk, he let out a relaxing sigh and looked over to his king. His cheerful mood was sucked dry when he saw the state of her progress.

"Your highness, is there something wrong? You seem quite…lackluster."

FP's flames grew out and her eyes emitted red fire mist as she turned to glare at the man.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

Everyone in the throne room immediately hit the deck, covering their heads and shuddering in fear. The king's form began to shift into a pure blaze, engulfing the center of the royal chamber in a towering inferno. Down below, the girl's assistant was crawling back in terror. She noticed him and shot out a bolt of flames, striking the spot directing in front of his feet. The fire elemental yelped and jumped back, now against the wall.

Flame Princess growled steadily as she raised he hand to fire a ball of combustive destruction straight at the cowering man. The poor guy squeezed his eyes shut as FP drew back her throw. Suddenly, something snapped in the fiery ruler. Her eyes reverted to their normal amber as she gazed with astonishment at the curled up elemental against the wall. A memory was flashed through her pupils, like a projector on a movie screen…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Finn was shielding himself against an oncoming being composed of flames, with its burning red eyes glaring at him viciously. The mass of red and orange ribbons took a step closer, growing a fireball in its blazing hand. The boy wasn't shaking but seemed frightful nonetheless. The fiery entity took another step closer, raising its spherical combustion above its head, preparing to barbecue the human._

"_YOU DARE CALL ME FAT!? I'LL COOK YOU ALIVE!"_

_The young hero lowered his protective arm from his face and stared with sorrow at the fire elemental before him. She was outraged beyond reasoning, making it very difficult to calm the approaching threat. However, Finn instantly found a string of bravery, halting his fear and taking a deep breath. _

_The human slowly got to his feet and stood valiantly against the angered fire elemental. She growled louder and drew back her hand to fling her sphere of searing heat at the boy. Astoundingly though, Finn took a step forward, closing his eyes and holding out his arms, accepting the potentially lethal fate he was about to receive._

_Flame Princess swung her arm down, launching the ball of incredible heat at the hero, who calmly stood to take the hit. Time froze as the shot made it to the halfway point between its sender and its target. In those moments, FP's eyes broke free of their rage, staring in horror at the situation her friend was in._

"_FINN, NO!"_

_Going beyond explanation, the hurled ball of flames suddenly exploded into a shower of sparks, which harmlessly bounced off of Finn's skin and clothes, actually tickling him a little. As the human giggled to himself, he opened his eyes, only to be much too late for dodging Flame Princess's high speed tackle/embrace._

_The hero groaned a bit as his head hit the hard ground. He rubbed his now throbbing skull and looked down to the girl who was burying her face in his chest. She was sobbing slightly._

"_Why didn't you move out of the way? You know I can't control myself when I go berserk."_

_She looked up into the boy's eyes, an expression of pleading and concern. Finn just smiled._

"_I wouldn't say that FP. Didn't you see what you just did? You cancelled out your attack mid-flight!"_

_The flame king's face dropped into shock, recalling what had transpired moments ago. The fire ball, it had just fallen apart, just like she begged it to in her mind the split seconds before it would've hit the human. Finn chuckled softly as he pulled himself out from under FP and leaned against the nearby boulder. A wide grin was soon on his face._

"_See? You've got awesome control of yourself; you've just got to remember that you are the owner of those flames, not anyone else."_

_Flame Princess's expression suddenly shifted to one of suspicion._

"_Wait, you PLANNED this? Calling me chubby, not moving out of the way?"_

_The young hero laughed as FP got to her feet and balled her fists._

"_Hahaha, yep!"_

_In an instant, he was yanked up by the collar of his shirt and smacked into the rock face. The princess of flames ground her teeth as she pinned the adventurer to the boulder._

"_You idiot! What if I hadn't been able to do that? You would've been toast!"_

_Despite her anger, the fire elemental still held a trace of concern in her features, which Finn amusingly could notice the whole time. He just chuckled one last time and sighed._

"_I knew I'd be fine FP. I trust you."_

_At this comment, the king's anger vanished, as if flushed out of her system entirely. Caught off guard, she released her hold on her friend and took a step back. Finn simply brushed off some ashes and smiled warmly at his companion. He nodded his head to the right._

"_Come on, that's probably enough fun for one day. We'd better get back to the palace."_

_The flame king eventually shook herself out of her trance and followed the human back through the landscape of volcanic rock._

"_Y-yeah, right."_

_As the two walked, the fiery girl looked curiously down at her hips. She was actually wearing a casual dress, since the duo had been out messing with a bunch of fire wolves and armor was too heavy to run in. The young ruler placed her hands to her sides and frowned with a questioning expression._

"_Hey, Finn?"_

"_No FP, you're not fat. You're perfect."_

_The fire elemental blushed a little as she and her friend came within sight of the castle._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Flame Princess shrank down to her normal humanoid form, face set in a somber state and eyes closed. Those in the throne room watched with anticipation as their king settled down and retracted her flames. The girl stood there for a minute, not showing any sign of movement as her head was hung low enough that no one could see her face. Eventually, the king spoke, quite weakly however.

"I'm sorry everyone. I-I just need some time."

In a flash, FP blasted her way out of a nearby window, leaving behind all her subjects to wonder what had caused their ruler's shift in emotion.

Flame Princess flew across the vast crimson lands of her kingdom, leaving a trickle of lava drops in her wake. She wiped her face with her arm and sniffled, trying desperately to stop the tears leaking from her eyes. She grew frustrated with herself.

"I've never lost my temper like that, not since Finn…no, I can't think about him. But…he's the reason I didn't…wait, he IS the reason I lost it. Him and his dumb 'time apart' junk, it's not like we're dating!"

The girl fired a random fireball to relieve some stress and accelerated her speed towards the edge of the Fire Kingdom.

"I've got to cool off."

Luckily, the best place to 'cool off' was right next to the blazing realm that FP ruled over. She always though it odd that the Ice Kingdom bordered its complete opposite but wasn't about to complain today. As the girl neared the fields of snow that indicated the neighboring kingdom, she began descending into a dive, intent on smacking down right into the pile of frosty white material.

Like a meteor, FP impacted in the crystallized mound with extreme force, causing much of the snow to be blown far away from the epicenter of the blast. A small crater was left in the aftermath of the king's landing, which she remarked went better than expected. She figured the clearing her actions had created was suitable enough to relax in.

With that, FP sat down cross-legged and began to meditate, determined to get the struggling thoughts out of her mind. The human she so dearly cared for was not here to offer any comfort, it was just the fiery king all on her own. With a few deep breaths, Flame Princess let her mind fester a bit.

_What is Finn's deal? So he still likes me, big deal, he can keep that stuff in his vault or whatever; the guy's a crazy tough adventurer for Glob's sake! Ugh! _

Flame Princess smacked her flaming fist into the exposed ground of the Ice Kingdom. The rocky surface shook a bit from the force of the blow, knocking down several bunches of snow hanging from trees nearby. FP sighed, holding her head up in her hands. She felt just as bored as when Finn was searching for a key back in that bone-filled dungeon all that time ago. Of course, she didn't admit she'd fallen asleep to prevent downing the boy's spirit.

As the fire elemental continually failed to keep the human out of her head, a low thunder was heard in the distance. She turned her head in its direction, curious as to what was happening. The thunder came again, this time louder, or closer.

Flame Princess stood up from her crater and gazed with an intrigued expression into the densely packed winter trees behind which the thundering was growing louder by the minute. Eventually, the booming noise started shaking the very ground, forcing the remaining snow on each branch to fall in untidy lumps on the ground around the trunks.

A cracking sound joined the fray, indicating that an object or creature was responsible for the constant thundering. More snapping twigs and trees were heard through the small forest nearby. FP braced herself, brandishing flames in both her balled fists while narrowing her eyes at the approaching phenomenon.

It was quite anticlimactic to her when a large snow golem crashed through the trees, gazing hollowly at the path ahead, ignoring FP's presence completely for a moment. As the lumbering being made its way through the crater, which was absent of snow, it suddenly reacted in a most violent demeanor.

The golem turned to face Flame Princess and held up its palm right in her direction. She panicked as a blast of slushy snow was fired from the creature's appendage. The fire elemental barely had time to pull up a barrier of flames to protect herself. The shield rapidly dissolved as a high hissing filled the air, followed by a cloud of steam. FP had virtually no visibility through the fog, struggling to see what had become of the hostile golem.

From the steam, a long arm shot out and instantly grabbed Flame Princess by her throat. She gagged and dug her fingers into the snowy material. After a quick blast of heat, she thought for sure she'd be freed. However, the fiery girl was stunned to see that her blaze had done zero damage to the golem's hand. It proceeded to hold the king high in the air, forming its other hand into a massive snow mace, prepared to pulverize the helpless elemental.

FP tried one more time to break free, shooting concentrated flames at the creature's face. Again, there was no effect. Her neck began to burn from the contact of the seemingly indestructible snow, making her voice come out very scratchy and distorted.

"What…are…you?"

The being didn't respond, but instead slammed the princess into the hard ground, causing her to shriek in pain. A shadow befell the trapped girl as the golem raised its weaponized hand to end her existence. FP gave up struggling, obviously unable to escape the bewildering construct that was about to smite her. She closed her eyes tightly, cycling final thoughts.

_Finn…please…I need you._

The snowy mace was brought down on her, expelling menacing force as the icy wrecking ball neared the fire elemental's limp body. Flame Princess let out a few more tears, for nothing less than the absence of her beloved human.

_Did…did I…was I in...have my feelings been growing this whole time? Have I lost track of my own emotions? Finn…I…I might have…_

Before the thought could be completed, a sudden shocking impact knocked the girl's senses loose. Incredibly enough, it wasn't the inevitable strike from the golem. A further listen concluded that the creature had been thrown back by a strong force, landing with a miniature tremor on the ground.

Flame Princess cracked open her eyes. Unfortunately, the blow to the back of her head from being smacked into the rock blurred her vision, filling her sight with nothing but white. After a moment though, a humanoid streak blew past her, allowing her to catch a glimpse of its flowing golden hair.

"Finn…"

Her voice was still weak, but she could form a smile on her lips. She was sure it was him; the hair was so distinguishable that it was near impossible for the boy to not stick out in a crowd, or out in the open for that matter.

The next several sounds reminded the king of battles Finn had fought with various elemental monsters; a lot of clanging, bashing, and slamming. She wondered how Finn could've moved so fast if he'd been carrying a weapon. The fighting continued while FP tried her best to move. Sadly, her joints were still ringing from the smash she'd received earlier.

A slice was heard nearby, followed by a roar of pain and heavy staggering footsteps. Next, some groaning, and finally, a retreating dash. The flame king remained motionless and silent; waiting to make sure the threat had been dealt with. A few seconds later, softer footsteps were heard crunching through the snow, approaching FP.

The girl gazed around desperately, wanting more than anything to see the smiling face of the human hero of Ooo. Irritatingly enough though, her vision was still blurred. When the figure from earlier finally towered over her, she couldn't distinguish anything apart from the golden, shoulder length hair that was most definite. However, something about the being looked different from Finn. The humanoid's shape seemed, curvy.

Not realizing how drained she was, Flame Princess passed out as the figure crouched down to tend to the ruler's injuries.

* * *

**_Holy cow! 'The Pit' was awesome! Finn's last line in the episode brought all kinds of warm fuzzies. Everyone should go watch it right now!_**

**Riset36: Both stories are gonna be rocking and rolling so no worries dude. My best guess for CoT chapter count is between 70 and 90 so you're pretty close.**

**Awolfx9: Agreed, 100%.**

**phoenixflower123: Hm, well I did used to be a bit of a pyro but I'll take a rain-check on that stake burning, haha!**

**_Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!_  
**


	3. Chapter 3

_I just had to say blindfolded, didn't I?_

Finn groaned to himself as he made his way through the blistering heat of the desert, sweating out what little moisture was hidden beneath his tanned skin. The blazing sun relentlessly beat the young hero, constantly trying to convince him to give in and collapse into the sand covered floor of the forsaken land. It would never work though; the boy had become well adapted to harsh environments.

Previous adventures had brought him face to face with nature's harshest whips and blades, each encounter thickening his rough-and-tough skin and prepping it for the next challenge. The bitter sting of the deepest level of the Ice Kingdom had taught the boy how to conserve heat and brace the unforgiving wilderness of winter. Journeys to the Cloud Kingdom and the resulting skydiving gave him knowledge on how to deal with high speeds and limited oxygen, along with shifting air pressure.

Although his balance was already impeccable, time in the Slime Kingdom's slippery caverns had granted valuable experience in shifting his weight and staying on his feet. And of course there were his ever-developing reflexes, sharpened and honed deep within countless dungeons to ensure the hero was never off guard, vigilant for any sign of evil.

Then there was the Fire Kingdom, his greatest and most exhilarating training course of all. He had proved his dedication to conquering his human weakness to flames long ago, by jumping straight into a volcano. Albeit he was wearing the Jake Suit, but regardless, he'd suffered the same burns as his brother, the only difference being that he was able to chuckle to himself as he spend days in the Candy Kingdom hospital.

Luckily, he wasn't **that** stupid anymore, choosing instead to hike the superheated cliffs of the mountains and enter close combat with vicious fire wolves. Finn smirked as he remembered the most dangerous fighting match he'd ever had with one of the native hounds of the blazing kingdom. It was an average day really; he and Flame Princess had finished their work early and decided to hunt down a pack of the fiery dogs…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Finn and FP carefully climbed over a mound of boulders, eager to reach the lava pond where it was rumored a pack of fire wolves made its home. The human was a fair ways ahead of the young king, who struggled to climb the rocks. Finn had told her it wouldn't be as fun if she simply flew over the land; she begged to differ, but chose to suck it up for the sake of her friend's adventurous values._

_Finally, the two made it to the last wall of rock separating them from the tiny lake. Finn quickly hopped over. The impact of his feet on the ground suggested it was more of a fall than Flame Princess initially thought, making her nervous. The girl crawled up to the edge and peered down, instantly losing her breath._

_It was nearly a 20 foot drop._

"_Finn, there's no way I'm jumping this. I'm going to fly down."_

_The human looked up to the fire elemental with a disappointed look._

"_Aw come on FP; just don't think about the height. You'll be fine."_

_The flame king wasn't quite convinced, crossing her arms and pouting. Finn sighed and tried to think of something._

"_What if you try climbing down?"_

_She shook her head._

"_Uh, go around the long way?"_

_Another shake._

"_Hm. What if I…catch you?"_

_Flame Princess initially gazed down curiously at the boy, who gave an honest shrug and grinned up at the fiery girl. She then smiled back, having always enjoyed the human's warm expressions. Slowly, FP sat down on the small cliff and threw her legs over the side, preparing to slide off._

_She still looked nervous, not quite believing that Finn could stop her fall. Her friend just continued his smile and reached out his arms._

"_Come on, I promise I won't miss."_

_That face, those eyes; they were so sincere and full of caring that they always managed to ignite the spark of trust in the princess. She swallowed and nodded down to the hero, bracing herself to leap off. A moment later, her bottom slid from the cliff and her body tumbled down._

_The feeling off falling was dreadfully scary to the elemental, having never really experienced such an act, even if it was for a short time. The passing wind was harshly blasting her flames, making it feel like someone was trying to blow her out. As she sensed the ground coming closer, she panicked and was about to shout out in fright. Luckily, it was unnecessary._

_Her fall was instantly halted by two strong yet gentle arms. FP slowly opened her eyes and looked up, seeing Finn's amused grin staring back at her. The human laughed and set the girl on her feet._

"_Man, for a second I thought you were gonna scream."_

_Regardless of the nature as a joke, he received a tough punch in the gut from the flame king, who huffed and turned to scan the area for the lava pond. She spotted it after a few seconds, glowing warmly a few hundred feet away. The fire elemental excitedly pointed to it._

"_Finn, there it is, come on!"_

_The hero chuckled to himself as his friend ran off ahead of him. He was the one who'd picked their adventure today but he was hoping for her to be the one enjoying it. It seemed he had succeeded. Rubbing his slightly sore abdomen, Finn sprinted along to join Flame Princess._

_FP rapidly reached the molten mass in the ground, which simmered and bubbled invitingly. Following the urges the pond induced, the fiery girl quickly swirled her flames around herself as she continued to run. A moment later, they dissipated, revealing that her dress had shifted into a crimson two-piece._

"_Whoo!"_

_Flame Princess enthusiastically jumped forward, tucking herself into a cannonball before finally landing with a huge splash in the boiling lava. Finn had somewhat caught up to her but stayed back as the glowing material was thrown in all directions, quite sure that flame shield wasn't exactly strong enough to protect him from that kind of temperature._

_The human grinned with amusement and shook his head._

"_She's like a little kid," he said to himself._

_A second later, FP burst back to the surface, unconsciously grabbing tight hold of Finn's gaze. Her long blazing hair was whipped around as she swung her head, shaking off the stray drops of lava. The glittering specks of molten rock fell in front of her face, which to the human, occured in slow motion. Flame Princess's eyes fluttered open, adding their amber glimmer to the scene and making it that much more enchanting to the boy. _

_He wished he could preserve those split seconds for all time, or even just have the fire elemental stay in that state outright. He had never seen that much of her dazzling golden skin. Another whispered sentence escaped his lips._

"_And suddenly…she's a beautiful young woman again."_

_Unfortunately, the magical minute ended when Finn failed to realize how fast time was actually flowing. Flame Princess stared with reserved caution at the boy as he just stood there, eyes unblinking and face growing a bit red. After another moment, the king understood what he was doing and her own cheeks flushed heavily. The fire elemental brought back her hand and quickly brought it down, smacking a jet of the lava right at the hero._

"_Finn! What the heck!?"_

_The human jumped with a yelp as he dodged the harmful molten goo. He raised his hands defensively and shook his head._

"_No wait, FP! I swear I wasn't, well, you know."_

_The fiery girl splashed another round of lava at the boy, who jumped again with fright. Suddenly, the fire elemental's upset expression shifted into a mischievous smile. She reached up and smacked yet another miniature wave of glowing goo at Finn, who once more hopped comically out of the way. FP started to giggle while slapping repeated rounds of burning liquid at her friend, who began to notice she wasn't doing it out of anger anymore. _

"_Yikes! FP, that's not cool!"_

_A dodge._

"_Literally!"_

_The king's giggle grew to a straight laugh._

"_Ouch! Cut it out!"_

_Sizzle._

"_Jeez, come on, I'm sorry!"_

_Flame Princess couldn't help it anymore and placed her hands on her belly, unable to control her hysterics. Meanwhile, Finn was panting with his hands on his knees, tired from jumping around. He sighed upon regaining his energy and looked over to the overjoyed ruler of the Fire Kingdom. She had begun to settle down and wiped a tear from her eye._

"_Oh man, that was so funny! You should've seen your face!"_

_Finn gave a sarcastic laugh back at her and rolled his eyes. As the fiery girl finally managed to stand up in the fairly shallow pond, he noticed a form behind her on the opposite edge of the huge puddle of glowing melted rock. His eyes widened as the figure reared back before flinging itself right at the unsuspecting fire elemental. _

"_Flame Princess, look out!"_

_He dived right at her as she grew a confused expression. Fortunately, his arms managed to snare her up and push her out of the way of a pair of vicious fangs contained in the mouth of a massive fire wolf. Finn and FP tumbled and splashed back into the pond, throwing more lava all over the place. Sadly, the human had been right to believe the flame shield didn't make him invincible to molten rock._

"_YEOUCH!"_

_The hero burst out of the surface of the pool holding FP in his arms. On instinct, he threw himself and the princess toward the nearest bank of the pond, where they landed hard against the volcanic ground. However, a little lava wasn't going to stop him from protecting his dearest friend. The goop may not hurt as much due to the crazy things he'd done in the past but it still burned like mad upon his nerve-filled skin._

_Shaking off the pain, he glared back to the fire wolf staring him down from the middle of the large puddle. FP recovered from her shock and gazed at her injured companion._

"_Finn, you're hurt bad!"_

_The human shook his head, not taking his eyes off of the growling dog before them._

"_It's fine, we can deal with that later. Right now this guy has a bone to pick."_

_The flame king looked past the boy and noticed the deadly jaws of the wolf, prepared to rip her friend to pieces. There was something different about this menacing dog that's set it apart from others of its species. The most obvious one was its size, easily triple the mass of a common wolf. Secondly, instead of crimson energy pulsing in the cracks across the beast's fur, there was a light blue, a quality shared with its glaring eyes as well._

"_What's with this thing? The princess asked with an obvious tone of fear._

_Finn narrowed his eyes further at the wild animal, which began pacing to the boy's side, apparently trying to see past him and stare down the fire elemental._

"_Alpha fire wolf, leads the whole pack."_

_FP had never heard of such a thing, proving just how much time she spent cooped up in the palace and how much time the human spent exploring the kingdom's outskirts. The alpha suddenly took a few steps forward, still trying to look behind Finn at the frightened FP. The hero reestablished his place as an obstacle between the two and pointed defiantly at the large beast._

"_Stay away from her, jerk-face!"_

_The wolf sent out a loud bark and growled louder. Soon, a gathering of normal fire wolves appeared around the fringes of the area containing the lava pond. The two humanoids observed the dozens of dogs gazing apprehensively at the confrontation between their leader and the human._

"_What's going on?" FP inquired once more._

_Before Finn could reply, another voice answered._

"_Hohoho! It's just a little part of nature, my dear."_

_Both teens turned their heads to see an elderly fire elemental sitting on a low cliff nearby, smiling with interest at the scene before him as he repeatedly tapped his long staff against the rock wall beneath him. Flame Princess gave the old man a curious look._

"_Who are you?"_

_The elemental did a quick sitting bow to the girl and gave a friendly smile._

"_Oh, just a humble shaman, miss. I dwell in the wilderness, sharing the blessings of the fire wolfs to any other life that comes across them."_

_Finn raised an eyebrow._

"_Uh, ok. So what's up with this butt?"_

_The shaman chuckled a bit before placing his staff in his lap and peering enthusiastically at the human._

"_Ah, you see, the prime has caught you trespassing in his territory. Your little lady shouldn't have gotten herself in that pond. Now you'll have to fight your way out."_

_The two friends exchanged a nervous look before Finn shook it off and slid the straps of his pack off his shoulders. He placed his junk on the ground near FP and turned to face the alpha. Flame Princess reached out a hand, concern on her face._

"_Finn, don't do it! Without a weapon you could easily end up mauled!"_

_She seemed to be pleading, which the hero caught and twisted his neck to gaze at the fire elemental._

"_No FP, I'm not going to let you get hurt. Just fly away. I'll handle this guy."_

_The shaman suddenly struck his staff on the rock, an upset look on his features._

"_No! This is a sacred trial of nature. All must remain!"_

_With that, the aged elemental held up his hand and fired an extremely thin line of fire at the flame king. She was unable to avoid it and was struck in her midsection by the shot. It stung briefly before dissipating and leaving her apparently unharmed. Experimentally, she tried to lift off the ground. Nothing happened. Utter fear filled her eyes as she desperately looked to Finn. The human scowled up at the shaman._

"_Dude! Are you insane!? This is the flippin' flame king!"_

_The old man brushed him off._

"_Oh sure, like I haven't heard that one before."_

_The boy growled at the nutty elemental until he heard a more powerful growl behind him. Turning, he saw the alpha stepping closer to himself, or more specifically, Flame Princess. There was no more time to argue, he had to take care of this, and protect FP at all costs. _

"_Ok puppy, let's do this."_

_The giant wolf bared its teeth wide and suddenly pounced, aiming its claws for Finn's neck. However, the human was much faster than the wild beast had thought. The boy dodged the strike and slid underneath his belly, bringing up his legs and using his incredible strength to press his feet against the alpha's chest and shove it off to the side, where it slammed into a nearby boulder._

_It didn't whimper and got back up, staring down the hero once again. The two combatants circled each other with solid focus, looking for a weakness to strike at. Finn decided to hit first this time and dashed toward his opponent. The alpha quickly swiveled and whacked the boy with its powerful tail, sending him flying into the rock face upon which the shaman was sitting. _

_The old man laughed as he poked Finn's aching head with his staff._

"_Haha! I guess that girl isn't so important to you. You're fighting like a chump compared to the prime!"_

_As Flame Princess watched, something snapped in the human. His eyes weren't visible since his head was lowered. The boy's golden hair finally fell and concealed his face completely. After a few more pokes, the hero swiftly reached up and grabbed the staff, shocking the shaman._

_Finn carefully stood up. The alpha was slowly closing in on him, eyeing the unresponsive enemy with observant eyes. The boy pulled the staff out of the shaman's hands and slammed the bottom of it into the volcanic ground, causing a short reverberation that somehow pacified the anxious emotions of the ring of fire wolves watching the fight._

_The pack grew silent, leaving only the growls of the alpha. Finn tossed the staff upward, where it came back down and stuck itself right in front of the shaman's nose, momentarily spooking him. Flame Princess gazed in astonishment as her friend finally looked up, staring straight into the face of the threatening wolf before him. There was fire in his eyes, which sent a chill up the flame king's back._

"_There is __**nothing **__that I want to protect more." _

_The alpha charged at Finn, preparing to bite his head off with its gaping jaws. Time slowed as the beast's sharp fangs neared the boy's skin. FP and the shaman watched in a complete state of shock. _

_With inhumane speed, the human slipped around to the wolf's side, causing it to swing its head to watch him in disbelief. The hero wasn't looking at his opponent. In fact, his eyes were closed, a look of total focus and determination on his face. In a split second, the boy brought his angled arm in toward his chest, before violently swinging it back, smashing his elbow into the alpha's maw with extreme force._

_The creature finally let out a whine, unable to overcome the inertia the human had placed in its now numb jaws. The beast's head was helplessly slammed into the rock wall where Finn had originally been standing, sending off pieces of shrapnel and earning one last whine from the defeated opponent._

_The massive wolf fell to the ground, barely conscious. The circle of minor wolves all whimpered and let their ears hang down. Finn stood in his final position of striking, as if channeling the remaining focus out of his body. Finally, he let out a breath and opened his eyes, immediately gazing at the stunned Flame Princess. The hero walked over and kneeled next to the girl, forming his lips into a warm smile as he looked into the elemental's amber eyes._

"_You ok, FP?"_

_She wasn't able to answer verbally, but managed to nod weakly. The boy's expression further softened as he received the comforting news. Suddenly, he heard paws crunching underneath volcanic dirt. Swinging around, Finn saw the alpha, struggling to walk toward the human and giving him a strange expression. The hero tensed up and raised his fists._

"_You want some more, punk?"_

_Instead of attacking however, the blue-eyed giant stopped his approach a few feet from the boy and bowed his head to him. The rest of the wolves did the same. Finn and FP stared in wonder at the display, dumbfounded at to the reason behind it._

"_What are they doing?" the hero pondered aloud. _

_Nicely enough, he received a response._

"_The prime is honoring you for protecting your mate."_

_The shaman stood vigilantly at the top of his cliff, now showing Finn an expression of deeply laid respect. The two teens however, blushed._

"_We're not together!" they both babbled in unison._

_Each turned to face the other, as if wondering how they had reacted to the declaration. The shaman gave a bow of his own and continued, not paying attention to the pair's objection._

"_Well done friend, you have proven your place among the wolves and are welcome back anytime you wish."_

_The entire pack, including the alpha, raised their heads and howled into the air, filling the sky with their defining call. Finn and FP then observed as the wild dogs began to depart, slowly vacating the pond's surroundings and leaving them alone once again. The old fire elemental left as well, disappearing from his cliff. _

_The two remained motionless for a few more minutes, taking in all that had transpired. Eventually though, Finn got to his feet, returned his pack to his back, and bowed to the king._

"_Mind if I take you back to the palace, m'lady?"_

_Flame Princess recovered her attitude and giggled, also getting to her feet._

"_You may, my noble protector."_

_She giggled again at the boy's reddened cheeks. Then, without warning, she hopped forward, forcing Finn to react quickly and catch her in his arms. She gave a teasing grin._

"_I'd like to be carried back, like a proper royal."_

_Her entertainment was cut short by the nervous look on the hero's face. She frowned._

"_What's wrong, Finn?"_

_The boy refused to make eye contact, not just with the girl's own eyes, but her entire body._

"_Er…well…you're…still in your bikini…"_

_FP's face dropped immediately as she realized her friend was correct. The fire elemental could definitely feel the burning sensation in her cheeks. She was sure the skin on her face would be undistinguishable from the color of her hair._

"_Uh then- just um, don't- don't look at me. Ok?"_

_Finn could barely contain a massive urge to say 'easier said than done' as he began walked carefully back towards the palace. Luckily, both of the teens looked away from each other to hide their blushes. However, they were also hiding two big smiles._

_o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o_

Finn sighed, understanding how badly he was failing at controlling himself. His mind just couldn't keep the girl out. The dry heart of the desert was being ignored at this point, not having the least effect on the human as he walked aimlessly through the sands, pondering where in this Glob forsaken land he was going to find something, or someone, to get his thoughts away from the graceful fire elemental.

_Come on Finn, that dart you threw sent you here for a reason. Find it._

* * *

**_I sort of feel like I need to apologize, or clarify at the least. The way the summary is written and the end of chapter 2 may insinuate that I'm using gender-bend characters from Aaa. This is not true, sorry. As is my usual path, I'll have a few OC's in here. Hope this isn't a turn off to you guys._**

**Collective reply to all reviews since they're pretty much the same question: Nope.**

_**Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!**_


	4. Chapter 4

Even though it was normal to be hearing crackling fire nearby, Flame Princess knew that she wasn't in the Fire Kingdom. The temperature surrounding her was too low. With a significant amount of effort, the young king opened her eyes, immediately met by more darkness. At first she just thought the lights were out but then again, where there was fire, light was inevitable.

FP reached up what she thought was her arm and brought it to her face. There was a cloth resting there, which was extremely cool to the touch but not enough to harm her. However, as she slid her fingers over the item, a sharp pain suddenly struck her nerves. The fiery girl quickly took away her contact, realizing that there was a little pile of snow on the object covering her eyes. Instead of risking getting doused in the face, Flame Princess tried igniting her flames to a high level, attempting to simply burn off the whole thing.

A scorching and sizzling sound filled the air as the king felt her body warm up dramatically. Her idea was working. Unfortunately, it was interrupted by a shout.

"Hey! There's no need for that!"

A second later, the cloth was swiped off of the fire elemental's vision, now exposing her sight to a seemingly wooden ceiling, along with the same golden-haired figure she'd seen earlier. She was about to guess it was Finn, but the voice was feminine. Slowly, the girl tilted her head to the left, intent on getting a full view of her savior's face. Once her cheek hit the pillow supporting her head, she could see the person's entire head.

Whoever she was, her hair seemed to be no longer than Finn's, if he didn't cut it for a while. Aside from that, the king would have to wait for her eyes to un-blur some more until she could distinguish more details. The company next to her remained silent, almost as if patiently waiting for the fiery ruler to speak. Eventually, FP's amber gaze solidified, bringing in a clear picture of the female next to her.

Instantly noticeable, was the girl's humble smile, grateful that Flame Princess was alright. Her eyes were quite strange, being a moss-like green that greatly contrasted her smooth yellow-orange skin. Her hair was indeed short, reaching barely below her shoulders. But the most amazing thing about it was its color. Fire elementals, at least the most humanoid ones, always had crimson flowing from their heads, and it stayed as such unless the individual was exerting a great amount of energy which may cause it to brighten to a yellow. However, her host seemed completely calm.

Clearly a fire elemental, but with features that seemed impossible for such a being. The only thing left to do was ask.

"Who are you?"

FP's voice came out surprisingly quite strong, implying she'd been healed some time ago and had just been resting for a while. The golden haired girl next to her intensified her smile.

"Just a stranger, but you can call me Pyris."

She reached out her arms and began helping Flame Princess sit up in bed. The king complied with the assistance and soon enough had her back to the board of the frame. She then resumed her stare on Pyris.

"Are you…really a fire elemental?"

Her host did a bit of a chuckle.

"Um, last time I checked, yes."

FP gazed in curiosity, still wondering about the girl's misplaced features. For now though, she ignored the oddities and proceeded to gather some more important information.

"How did I get here, and where are we?"

Pyris got up from the chair she'd had next to the bed and held out her hand to the king. She accepted and helped herself to be pulled out of her current position and sit on the edge of the bed. Next, she carefully stood up and did a quick check to make sure her legs weren't too wobbly.

Pyris gestured for the fiery girl to follow through a small curtain, although instead of walking through herself, she held the cloth aside to make sure her guest didn't even have to touch it. At first FP just though she was being polite, but then she heard a strange crinkling noise on the floor.

Looking down, the king found that the majority of the ground was covered in tinfoil. She looked back at her host and furrowed her brow.

"Wait, if I would burn your place down, why are you able to touch everything?"

Pyris gazed nervously off to the side.

"Well, let's just say I have an _unnatural _control over my heat levels."

Flame Princess was immediately intrigued, but also realized she was just standing there and so proceeded through the doorway to what was a small living room, which contained a large fireplace that crackled invitingly. Again, why would this girl need a fire? FP grew more and more curious as Pyris directed her to sit across form her on the couch. Two glasses rested on the coffee table between the pair of cushioned furniture. The king's was, obviously, covered in the silver material to prevent burning.

Pyris took a pitcher next to the glasses and poured glowing hot lava into one of them before setting it back down and gesturing for FP to have a drink. She accepted the offer and gulped down the warm substance, not until now realizing she was in fact very thirsty. Once finished, Flame Princess set the glass down and curiously gazed at the patently sitting fire elemental in front of her.

"Aren't you going to drink?"

Pyris raised her hands and grinned.

"Oh no, I can't handle that stuff."

The flame king raised an eyebrow.

"You know, you're pretty strange for a fire elemental."

The yellow haired girl chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, it's a long story. For now, I just want to make sure you're all healed up. Anything feel out of place?"

FP momentarily shifted her shoulders, legs, back, and neck. All seemed normal and so she nodded to her host.

"Yep, I'm good. How bad was it?"

Pyris sighed and brought her hands together.

"You had some internal bleeding on your left side. That was the hardest to patch up. Then there was the matter of a fractured thigh, luckily I had something for that too. All around, nothing that I couldn't fix up. You should be as good as ever."

Flame Princess was impressed with her companion's healing skill. Such injures must have been very difficult to work with.

_Difficult to work with…_

Her mind was suddenly flooded by another memory. She and Finn had just returned from the lava pond at which they relaxed most often during their free time. It usual ended up that she would be kicking back in the soothing molten rock while her friend challenged the alpha wolf to a friendly squabble…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Finn groaned as FP supported his arm on her shoulders. The two teens awkwardly made their way through the fire palace's corridors, trying to get to a place where the king could help her hero with his injury. After a few more struggling minutes of basically limping, they finally reached the door Flame Princess was looking for and she eased it open with her free arm._

_Inside, the fiery girl let Finn off on the bed, after which she scrambled over to the balcony. Upon it rested the person she was looking for, comfortably napping on his down time. FP shook the little flambit._

"_Hey, Flambo!"_

_The tiny fire elemental awoke with a start._

"_Who, what, where!? Oh, hey there your highness. Need something?"_

_Flame Princess motioned over to the now wobbling Finn. _

"_Can you cancel out a flame shield?"_

_The flambit was rather surprised by the question. No one had asked that in a great deal of time. However, he shook off the astonished expression and gazed back at his king._

"_Um, yeah, sure, but why?"_

_The fiery girl looked over at Finn again, who was straining himself to sit upright._

"_That dummy over there left himself a little too open to a set of really sharp jaws. I've got to treat his wound before he passes out from blood loss."_

_Realizing the urgency of the situation, Flambo hopped off of the balcony's edge and bounded over to Finn on the bed. Standing next to the human, he began chanting in a strange language while various fire runes surrounded his body. A moment later, he took a step forward and placed his hand on Finn's shielded arm. Immediately, the blue hue of the protective charm was sucked out of the hero's form, culminating in the flambit's palm and finally leaving the boy entirely._

_With his feet now unshielded, Finn yelped and brought his legs up on the bed. Having already been weakened however, the strain of the act caused him to fall over onto the sheets, groaning. Flambo meanwhile, did a tiny salute to his king and ran off to reclaim his comfy spot to nap in._

_FP walked over to the bed and sat down next to Finn's injured form. The boy looked up to see his friend's shimmering amber eyes, complimenting nicely with her smile._

"_I told you it wasn't smart to fight that wolf so much."_

_The human shrugged._

"_I'm all about stupid, remember?"_

_Flame Princess giggled at that then gazed back at her companion._

"_Yeah, I guess so."_

_Finn then took a moment to scan the area around him._

"_So uh, why are we in your room?"_

_FP sighed as she quickly tested her control over the heat in her hand._

"_Because, my bed covers are the only material in this place that won't burn you. It's the only way to have you lay down while I take care of that bite and not have it too difficult to work with."_

_Finn raised an eyebrow._

"_Uh, what do you mean by that?"_

_The fire elemental responded by taking hold of the hero's shirt and lifting it up to expose the bloody injury underneath. Surprisingly, or maybe not, they both blushed a little. Finn because FP was getting into his personal space, and the princess because of how she couldn't help noticing Finn's progressively developing physique. They quickly shook off their distracting situations and the human braced himself as the king brought her searing hot hand closer to his punctured skin._

_Amazingly enough, all that came out of the boy's mouth was a controlled groan, truly demonstrating his tolerance to the temperature contacting his nerves. Flame Princess was impressed, but continued focusing on patching up the bad tear in her friend's body. It took a minute, by the girl was able to fully seal the injury, preventing additional blood from escaping the boy's insides._

_FP took her hand away and let out a relieved breath. She smiled upon Finn, who gave her a thumbs up along with a woozy return smile._

"_Thanks, FP. You're the-"_

_His head fell down. Although psychologically he'd ignored the pain, his brain still felt the effects. Exhausted by the conflict between physics and willpower, it had forced the human to pass out. Flame Princess couldn't help but giggle, thinking how adorable it was how the rough-and-tough hero could simply black-out like that._

_Deciding to let him rest, she patted his arm and began to stand up. However, immediately upon raising the height of her head, the fire elemental's skull felt all fuzzy. This was followed by sudden fatigue in nearly her whole body. It seemed that half-carrying Finn all the way to the palace had taken more out of her than she thought. With that, she couldn't help but get back to the bed and lie down a foot or so away from Finn, facing away from him as the human continued to lay there on his back._

_A few seconds later, her eyes closed and she was out._

…

_Flame Princess's next feeling was one of security. She felt some strange force close by; right next to her in fact, that seemed to radiate warmth of protection. This was strange for someone made for fire, but then she realized that this was a different kind of energy. This was comfort, closeness, something to fall back on; feelings that were extremely valuable to a girl that had been as badly neglected as her in the past._

_The peaceful thoughts in her mind ended when she realized it wasn't a dream. She could feel her bed beneath her, and hear the crackling sounds of the Fire Kingdom all around her. Opening her eyes, FP found what was causing her mental harmony and nearly shrieked._

_While she had been sleeping, she'd not only flipped over on her other side, but somehow scooted closer to Finn, __**and **__placed an arm over his still exposed abdomen. The fiery girl yelped and pushed herself away. As she partially sat up, she noticed that Finn once again had a flame shield on, which prevented him from being burned by her *cough* cuddle. _

_Embarrassed, she got up from the mattress and walked out to the balcony to vent her flushed face. Upon it, Flambo was still sleeping, although in a different position then the last time. The flambit also had a mischievous smile on his face, as if he'd done something he thought quite funny before nodding off. _

_FP curiously gazed at the tiny creature as he slept, noticing that every so often, he'd chuckle in his sleep. Looking back over at Finn, the king noticed for the first time that he did in fact have a light burn print across his midsection. It was in the shape of her hand and arm. Immediately, she turned back to face Flambo, still chuckling in his snooze time._

_The fiery girl resisted the urge to smack him upside the face, understanding now that the flambit had done nothing to prevent her from entering the embarrassing position she'd been in while asleep, in fact doing the opposite. She grinded her teeth but managed to lower her slowly raising hand. Although tempting, she decided she'd yell at him when he was awake, just to be fair. _

_After a moment, the king gazed back at the still snoozing Finn, who seemed quite calm and relaxed, likely not having a single bad dream and perhaps a good one or two. She smiled, happy to know the boy was enjoying his rest. However, she couldn't hold back the gnawing thought in her mind that she'd enjoyed hers as well. The young ruler groaned._

"_Why can't I have a vault like Finn?" she complained to herself._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hey, you alright?"

_Snap, snap, snap._

Flame Princess shook her head as Pyris looked at her with concern. The golden-haired elemental snapped her fingers in the king's face one more time for good measure then leaned back into the couch. FP finished pushing out the rest of the memory and also sat back, sighing quietly.

Her host continued her worried expression and frowned.

"Is there, something bothering you?"

The girl's guest shook her head, although did so half-heartedly. After sitting a while in silence, Pyris crossed her arms and stared carefully at FP's downed mood.

"Well, are you going to tell me about him?"

Flame Princess immediately shot up her face and gave the golden-haired elemental an astonished look.

"What!? What are you talking about?"

Pyris shook her head.

"Don't try lying to me. I happen to be an expert at reading people."

FP didn't really want to explain herself, but as far as she could tell, they were likely in the Fire Kingdom and so she couldn't break her own rule. The king sighed then leaned forward, holding up her head as she planted her elbows on her knees.

"Me and a friend of mine are spending some time apart. I don't really want to go into details, ok?"

Pyris didn't really change her expression.

"A _friend _you say?"

Flame Princess grew a little frustrated, understanding she was being mentally probed at this point. She gave her companion a hardened stare.

"Yes, a _friend_."

The strange elemental didn't react to the slightly aggressive reply; she only looked to the floor in contemplation. To FP's relief, the girl decided to drop the subject, for the moment at least.

"So who might you be? By the crown I'm guessing the princess of the Fire Kingdom?"

The young ruler shook her head.

"King, actually."

Pyris was noticeably surprised by the response but then just chuckled a bit.

"Wow, things have really changed since I've been gone."

FP was rather uncertain at this point where they were.

"You never answered my question, where are we?"

The golden-haired elemental proudly motioned to the room around them.

"Welcome to my humble abode, located in a not-very-noticeable corner of the Ice Kingdom."

At this, Flame Princess's eyes shot wide open.

"You live in the **Ice Kingdom**?! How is that even bearable?"

Once again, Pyris had that nervous look on her face and turned away. The flame king scowled at herself for bringing up a likely sensitive issue again. However, she also wanted some answers, and thought of a fair way to get them, figuring that she technically had no authority over Pyris, since the girl didn't live in the Fire Kingdom.

"How about this, we'll each go back and forth, asking one question at a time."

Pyris looked back at the king with a questioning look but eventually shrugged and formed somewhat of a pleased grin.

"Alright, that seems fair. Do we have to be totally honest?"

FP nodded.

"That's actually a law in my kingdom."

The golden-haired elemental scoffed.

"Well this ought to be fun."

The large fire nearby continued to crackle warmly as the two ladies began to learn about each other, bit by bit and piece by piece. The whole time, Pyris chose to hide the fact that she knew exactly the situation between Flame Princess and the person she couldn't keep out of her head. Sometimes, psychology left a lot of room for mischief.

* * *

**_By now you've probably noticed the 'flashback' theme for this story. I thought it would be an interesting concept._**

**ShimmeringKnight: Well, there's your answer. And the other one's coming up next.**

**Xerion: Jake's activities will come up later in the story. For now it's a secret.**

**Riset36: Yep, I hope they'll become as likable as the OC's in my other fic. **

_**Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!**_


	5. Chapter 5

Even for the hardened human known as Finn, the desert brought horrendous blasts of heat that couldn't be avoided or protected against. Unfortunately for the hero, he had run out of water. As Finn's feet sank into the loose sand with every step, he panted heavily, though refused to stop moving forward. He figured if he stopped his legs would give out, then he wouldn't be able to get up, and finally, he'd perish in the harsh environment.

Desperately shaking off the aching in his limbs that his brain was screaming about, Finn pressed forward up a sand dune, somehow instilling the hope that on the other side lay salvation. However, the trip up was only intensified when he felt the sand begin to brush against his legs. He was nearly sinking at this point. Not to mention the powder-like rock was starting to burn his skin.

Sighing at how wasteful this trip had become, the young man reached into his pocket and brought out the dart that had led him here. He now glared at it, thinking how dumb he was to bet everything on luck. Meanwhile, Finn had reached the crest of the dune, gazing over its peak at…more desert. The human groaned, now sure that he would die in this wasteland.

_Still no brain? You're 17, dude, that's just sad._

Finn hopped forward and allowed the silky dune to slide him down the other side of the peak; somewhat irritating his skin with the heat and occasional grittiness of the sands. Upon reaching the base, the hero stood up, with a bit of a wobble, and held up his hand to shield his eyes while scanning the blistering horizon. Still nothing, just more baked landscape. The only actual object in sight was a lumpy rock sitting in the middle of the ground, having no earthly business being there.

Finn held up the dart in his hand and frustratingly threw it at the stone, which sent off a light ping as the metal projectile bounced off of it. Although his aim was quite impressive, the human just sighed again, wondering what to do next. Suddenly though, the desert answered for him.

The sands began to shake, producing a sifting effect that evened out the ground. Finn could barely stay on his feet as the rumbling increased. Before he knew it, a massive object sprung out of the silky rock, throwing the human backwards against the dune while also tossing sand into his face. Spitting out the material in disgust, Finn wiped away the irritant and struggled to open his eyes, worried that some of the sand may be near his peepers.

Luckily, there wasn't, and it couldn't have been a better result, since the hero would definitely need his eyes to open as wide as possible to express his surprise at the thing that now blocked his path ahead.

With the majority of its body settled into an enormous coil, a great snake glared at the fallen hero with its piercing yellow eyes. By a random guess, Finn figured it was at least fifty feet long. Aside from the incredible length however, the most shocking detail was its composition. The creature was made entirely out of solidified flames, evident by the sizzling sand contacting its skin and the glowing aura coming off its red and orange texture.

The beast reared back its head and instantly expanded its hood, while simultaneously opening its mouth to display its vicious fangs and forked tongue. The hiss was sharp enough to temporarily stiffen Finn. Regardless, he pulled out his sword and took a fighting stance, preparing to block the blurring fast strike of the fire cobra. There was one other thing his mind cycled through his head.

"What the heck are you doing out here?"

Fire cobras never strayed too far from the ash desert of the Fire Kingdom, perfectly at home in the soft, blackened material native to the region. The fact that one was hiding out in the normal sands many miles from the fiery land was most peculiar. Unfortunately, there was no time to ponder the oddity further, for the snake shot its gaping maw forward, intent on taking Finn's head.

The teenager parried the strike, managing to have the beast clamp its jaws on his blade. Struggling to get his weapon free, the human began punching the cobra's snout with his free hand, knowing it was a snake's weak spot. The creature hissed in aggravation and released its hold on the sword, allowing Finn to side-step and attempt a strike on the snake's neck.

Sadly, this one was too quick and already brought over its mighty tail to slam the hero into the ground, digging more sand into his face. As Finn struggled against the grains in his skin, the cobra swung its head over and prepared another bite. As the fangs came closer to the flattened human, he suddenly began spinning himself in the soft material. The momentum generated spun him away from the snake's bite, which ended up in the sand, much to its disappointment.

As the snake retrieved its head, it noticed Finn was gaining upward spin from his action, which swiftly brought him to his feet and was followed by a roundhouse kick to the fiery serpent's face. Letting out a pained hiss, the cobra's upper body collapsed to the ground, sending up a miniature smokescreen of dust. Finn stopped his spin and panted heavily, already exhausted from his wandering.

However, he smiled at the result of his attack.

"Ha! I learned that one from a good friend, sucker."

The hero suddenly frowned, realizing his mind was subconsciously drifting back to another memory of _her_…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"_You want to __**what**__?"_

_Flame Princess raised an eyebrow at her dear friend as he spoke of his idea. Finn was excitedly revealing his latest plan for getting better at combat. _

"_Yeah! I'm telling you, it's ingenious!"_

_The human motioned for the fiery king to follow him up the rest of the mountainside as they took their usual break from royal business. FP was still unconvinced to the proposal._

"_Fight each other? How is that anywhere near a smart idea?"_

_The two made the final reach for the peak and got to their feet, examining the fairly wide area that composed the top of the now extinct volcano. Finn then turned to face the young ruler. _

"_Don't you see, FP? We already know how to beat off every living thing around, not to mention all the butts that try to mess with the kingdoms from time to time. This is the next step. By fighting ourselves we can further improve our skills and be able to adapt better to new opponents."_

_The princess crossed her arms and thought hard about her friend's explanation. She had to admit, after hearing the full details, it seemed quite logical. However, there were still a few unsettling parts to the whole deal._

"_So, we'd be beating each other up. How badly?"_

_Finn grinned._

"_Completely, no mercy, as if we're fighting for our lives."_

_FP was shocked by this._

"_Are you serious? I…I don't think I could do that to you, Finn."_

_Her tone then darkened._

"_And I really hope you feel somewhat the same."_

_The human defensively raised his hands._

"_Of course I do. But this is potentially a chance to get real growth in our combat skills. We can't hold back."_

_Flame Princess turned and walked further towards the center of the mountain, where the ground was now composed of young hardened lava. She stood there for a minute, deciding if she was game for it. Finally, the fire elemental swung around to face Finn, who was anxiously waiting for a response._

"_Alright, I'll do it."_

_The human instantly looked uplifted._

"_Great!"_

_He stuck his hand into his pocket before bringing out a white bandana, which he promptly wrapped around his head to hold his long hair out of his face. FP meanwhile, did a few spins to generate a small vortex of flames to change her attire into something a little more comfortable for fighting. As the fires dissipated, she emerged wearing bright red shorts, a tank top, and her hair had been shortened to make sure it wasn't a bother to her, just like Finn had done._

_Next, Flame Princess walked forward until she was about ten feet from her friend, who was oddly staring at her. She furrowed her brow._

"_Is something wrong, Finn?"_

_The human snapped out of his gaze and turned a bit red, rubbing the back of his neck._

"_Heh, na, I'm good, just got a little spaced out."_

_The flame king shrugged and joined Finn in holding up her fists._

"_So, I'm assuming no flame powers?"_

_The hero shook his head._

"_And no spitting for you?"_

_Finn was taken aback, but FP simply laughed._

"_Just kidding."_

_The pair slowly began circling each other, waiting for the other to make a move._

"_Um, what if I get mad?"_

_Finn gave a confident grin._

"_Come on, FP. Don't you remember? You can control your power if you really focus."_

_The princess gave a small smile, recalling the time Finn had placed himself in significant danger just to prove to her that she was in command of her mighty flames. She also blushed, due to the compliment he'd given her that same day. Taking advantage of the girl's distracted mind, Finn made his move and sprinted straight at her._

_The king's eyes went wide, not expecting the sudden act. She only managed to put her arms up to block Finn's incoming fist. Although the hit was prevented, she was too lost to shift her position when the human tripped her with a low sweep of his leg. She yelped as her back met the ground, aching slightly. By now Finn took a few steps back. Then, he shot himself into the air, intent on bringing his knee down hard on the disabled elemental._

_Luckily, FP dodged by rolling to the side, then doing a motion that quickly brought her to her feet. The hero's knee struck, leaving a crack in the volcanic floor. The king gave a glare._

"_What the junk, Finn!? That actually hurt!"_

_The young man turned quickly and fired another punch, which FP blocked again. Now however, she was being pushed back by a constant barrage of shots from Finn._

"_I told you, we've got to take this seriously. Just, pretend I'm your dad or something."_

_Flame Princess considered the idea and tried her best to implement it, imagining the jerk himself was trying to hurt her. It surprisingly helped. Tired of the slugs hitting her forearms, FP did a quick move that sent an uppercut at Finn, which managed to hit him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. The princess opened her eyes, seeing the pained look on her friend's face._

"_Oh Glob! I'm sorry, Finn!"_

_However, the hero recovered and resumed his assault, this time landing a strike on the girl's cheek. She recoiled and shouted out from the pain, widening her eyes at the young man. He was looking at her as if she were a common enemy. It rather hurt, more so than the punch to her face._

_Finn ran up to resume the fight, but this time FP decided to forgo blocking and just dodged, using her natural agility to avoid the punches. Eventually, she got over her remorseful and upset feelings and began to take the fighting seriously. Spotting another opening, she sent a knee straight into Finn's groin, causing him to groan in pain and fall back._

"_Ugh! Cheap shot."_

_FP smirked and dashed forward, now having the upper hand on the young man. She began her own flurry of punches, which Finn began pushing aside as fast as she could throw them. Having shaken off the hit to his nether regions, the human grinned and suddenly outright caught Flame Princess's glowing fist in his palm. The girl gasped as he then pulled her towards him, delivering a strong head-butt that knocked the fire elemental off her feet, along with a shout of pain._

_Rubbing her head, FP didn't have a chance to resist as Finn grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back over, using the momentum to toss her up and right into a nearby boulder. The flame king was dizzy at this point and could barely notice Finn rushing forward to get in one last fist to finish the fight._

_However, Flame Princess was given too much time, and allowed herself to slip down to the ground to avoid the hit. This not only caused the hero to painfully drive his hand into solid rock, but gave time for FP to slip under his legs and come up behind him. Stunned, Finn could do nothing as the girl grabbed his shoulders and flung him over her, landing him flat on his face._

_The human tried to get up but was hit with a kick to his side, tossing him several feet away. He grunted as his body scraped the ground and finally came to a halt near the edge of the volcano. Finn gave all his strength into getting to his feet, only to hear the rapidly approaching footsteps of Flame Princess. His head shot up to see the fire elemental charging, now fully engaged in the battle. The hero couldn't help but smile, but also decided this was enough for now._

_With one swift motion, Finn side-stepped FP's attack, momentarily catching her off guard. She gazed in surprise at how fast the human was and also at the suspicious grin he was now wearing._

"_Sorry, but this is over."_

_Flame Princess's eyes widened further as Finn grabbed her arm, took out her right leg with a quick kick, then used her own momentum to start swinging her around. Normally, her flame powers would allow her to break free, but the restriction made it impossible. She tried to reach forward and hit Finn in the face but the circular motion was forcing her body to try to fling outwards, making it extremely difficult to bring anything closer to the center of spin, i.e. the human._

_Finally, Finn released his hold, hurling the princess high into the air. As she helplessly came back down, he sent her one last kick, striking right in her abdomen and sending her skidding to the ground with several groans. At first, Finn thought it was over and he'd accidentally knocked out the fire elemental, but as he approached, he saw her tightly shutting her eyes and grinding her teeth._

"_Oh jeez, please don't tell me I broke your spine or something!"_

_FP slowly looked upon the concerned hero, eyeing him carefully._

"_No…fight's…not…over…keep going."_

_Reluctant, but seeing as the princess wouldn't give up, Finn raised his fist to end the battle. As his hand zeroed in on the king's face however, she suddenly fired back a smirk, causing Finn to nearly flinch. In a split second, she spun herself on the ground, dodging the blow from the young man as she was suddenly brought to a standing position by her motion. Using the last of the inertia, she leveled Finn in the head with a strong kick, immediately making him nearly black out as his form flew across the surface and came to a painful looking smack several yards away._

_Flame Princess at first grinned at the success of her move, but then noticed her friend was unmoving. Panicking, she ran over to him and got to her knees, gathering the poor guy in her arms._

"_Finn! Finn! Say something!"_

_She shook him a bit, resulting in a woozy blink from the human. After a few more moments, he managed to regain full control of his eyes and locked them onto the worried face of the fiery ruler. He then let out a groan._

"_Oh man, I think my skull might have a crack in it."_

_FP instinctually held him closer._

"_I'm so sorry, Finn. I took it too far."_

_The hero chuckled as the girl almost started crying._

"_No, no, you did great, FP. I was totally wiped out. You're awesome!"_

_The fire elemental held him back and looked with astonishment at his grinning face._

"_And I swear I was giving it my all."_

_Finally, the king managed to smile back, albeit weakly, considering she still worried for her friend. A small tear escaped her eye. Finn noticed this and comfortingly brushed it off with his finger._

"_Hey come on, don't do that. You were excellent, I was the one who said to be serious."_

_The princess was frowning again._

"_But, I could've killed you if I hit hard enough."_

_Finn brushed it off and pointed to his injured cranium._

"_What, this? Na, I've been through worse. Besides, it'll heal with a bit of time, comfort, and some heat." _

_Flame Princess gazed curiously at the human._

"_Heat, you say?"_

_The young man smiled._

"_Yep, eases the pain and loosens up the nerves and junk that are blocking the process."_

_FP helped the hero sit up, then, to his surprise, planted a kiss on the area where it hurt. He felt his face go numb and his cheeks brighten. The fiery girl gave a giggle as the hero's eyes started to wobble again._

"_Did that help?"_

_Finn sat there, a bit lost in his own mind, but managed a response._

"_Uh huh…"_

_Next, he fell over, barely giving time for FP to catch his head and avoid another concussion. The princess smiled amusedly while waiting for the young man to regain full consciousness._

"_What am I gonna do with you."_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Finn held no shame. Flame Princess was a girl, but she was the toughest girl he'd ever met. Many of his buddies laughed their mouths off at his loss to the fire elemental, considering she hadn't used her powers, but the human paid them no mind and vibrantly retold the fight to anyone who wanted to hear it. Even PB gave a few chuckles, but it didn't matter. Finn couldn't help but love how nice of a smile FP wore when she found out he was taking the loss in such a way, more proud of her than he was disappointed in himself.

Back to the matter at hand, Finn shook off the pleasant memory and refocused on the recovering cobra in front of him. He was certain he didn't have the energy to fight much longer. This was further evident when he didn't notice the snake coil part of itself around his body, instantly binding him and tossing away any chance for evasion of another bite.

The cobra maliciously brought its head close to Finn's, glaring deep into his eyes with its yellow slits. By this point, the human was about 99.99998% sure he was going to die, factoring out the chance of a meteor falling on the snake, a dust storm, or a random person coming out of nowhere to help him. As the cobra revealed its lethal fangs, Finn closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard through the air, followed by the coils around the young man loosening up, giving room for him to escape from the bottom. After a quick tuck-n-roll, Finn got shakily to his feet and faced the cobra, whose head was swaying side to side as if dazed. Looking closer, the human noticed a massive, hammer-shaped object held in midair beside it.

A second later, the hammer smacked the snake once more in the cranium, forcing it back and into the sand. Next, the weapon reformed into a giant column, which promptly brought itself down on the semi-conscious cobra. Amazed, Finn examined the fluid-like mass hovering in the sky. He spotted two flows of the material heading in one direction, which he saw was the source of the blob.

A humanoid figure, dressed in a dark brown cloak, was holding out its arms, which extended into the two flows and connected to the mass. Before his very eyes, Finn watched the mass disseminate and begin to shrink down, eventually splitting off into two large hand shapes, each held by a flow. It was then that the hero saw the glimmer of the material in the sunlight, determining it to be a liquid he knew all too well.

As the hands continued to minimize, they retracted to the humanoid, who finally reformed his original arms and slid them back into his cloak's sleeves. Finn gazed in awe at the being.

_Water elemental._

Slowly, the young man made his way over to the mysterious arrival, who remained unmoving as the human came closer. Eventually, he stopped a few feet away. The two were silent for several minutes, simply studying each other. Finally, Finn took the initiative and smiled.

"Thanks for the save, dude."

The humanoid nodded.

"No problem."

It was a male voice.

Before either guy could continue the conversation however, an enraged hiss sounded from nearby. The cobra had silently slithered close to the two and raised its tail. Unfortunately, the humanoids were too slow to act against the force of the snake's lower body, which slammed into them with tremendous force and sent them flying high into the air.

As the pair sailed through the air, they shouted in fright, unable to figure out where they were headed. After a few more seconds in the sky, the flight came to an end with a definite 'plop'. Amazingly, the both landed upright, although halfway stuck in the ground. As Finn tried to pry himself out, his new companion shook his head.

"It's no use. This is five-hour quicksand."

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Five-hour?"

The other nodded.

"Yeah. We'll be stuck here for a while until the sand's moisture is dried up. Until then, I guess we can get acquainted."

The human held up his hand.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. First, a question. That snake should've been fried by your huge water smash. How the heck did it get back up?"

The humanoid sighed.

"Let's just say, it wasn't a normal fire cobra."

Finn stared for a moment at the hooded being then shrugged.

"Alright, I won't be rude and dig into a stranger's biz. But I will accept the greeting."

He held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Finn the Human."

The humanoid brought down his hood, revealing the definite blue-tinted face of a water elemental. He had a friendly smile, well-rounded features, seaweed green eyes, and average length hair that looked like a miniature never-ending waterfall. Upon his forehead was a sapphire shaped like a triangle. The guy looked about the same age as Finn. He took the human's hand and shook.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aqua Prince."

* * *

**_Just so you know, these are likely the only two OC's in the whole story. I'm trying to tone it down a bit._**

**Riset36: Heh, not too far from your guess dude. **

**I am The7: Hm, I never thought of it that way, interesting. **

_**Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!**_


	6. Chapter 6

By now, the nice little fireplace had nearly exhausted all of its wooden fuel, slowly dying out and giving the room a twilight atmosphere that also enhanced its cozy feel. Other than the dimming flames, the two fiery ladies on the couch nearby kept the surroundings lit with adequate light of their own.

Flame Princess had progressed considerately into the questioning session she was having with Pyris, who had quite a familiar sounding backstory. She had been found in the wilderness of the Fire Kingdom as an infant, cornered by a pack of fire wolves that, while didn't display a threat to eat her, didn't appreciate her trespassing on their territory. Luckily, the girl's adoptive parents came along and made short work of the feral beasts, taking little Pyris as their own.

She was raised not by fire elementals, but by a friendly pair of rock elementals, who taught her all the joys of travel and exploring, even bringing her along on dozens of exciting expeditions. Sadly, around the time she reached her teen years, Pyris's beloved guardians passed away, leaving her with little more than the occasional friend she'd met along her adventures.

On the opposite end, Pyris was repeatedly expanding the proof of her ability to read someone like an open book. She not only determined that FP was restrained as a child and tended to drift toward evil behavior, but also pieced together the cause of her shifted alignment.

"He did a great thing for you. Showing you the world, the value of a righteous heart, and the strength to never give up."

Flame Princess looked away from her companion.

"I know. But, can we please not talk about it?"

Pyris gave the king a concerned gaze.

"Talking will make you feel better, trust me."

FP stared back at the strange elemental. Her expression was sincere and hopeful. After letting out a sigh, the princess gave up her denying and turned to face Pyris with a strained look upon her face.

"Fine."

The golden-haired girl nodded with a small smile and motioned for the fiery ruler to go on.

"We broke up, about two years ago."

"I gathered that."

"And, I went on to kick out my stupid dad and take over the Fire Kingdom. It took a bit of time, but Finn eventually accepted the fact we weren't together anymore and we stayed good friends afterward."

Pyris crossed her arms.

"But neither of you ever entirely let go of those feelings, did you?"

Flame Princess was about to protest, but decided against it.

"No."

The flaming blonde nodded, seeing progress.

"And what's stopping you from starting over?"

FP stared hard at the dying fire in its hearth.

"I guess…responsibility."

She gazed deeply into the flames of the fireplace.

"Two types…to be exact."

Pyris tilted her head curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Flame Princess took a deep breath, digging into her memories to lay out all the turmoil in her heart…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_The Fire Kingdom was in the midst of a celebration, memorializing the second anniversary of Flame King's fall from tyranny and the establishment of a newly forged land of truth and honesty. As the grand mass of fire elementals awaited the announcement from their new ruler, the fiery girl was nervously preparing up on the palace's balcony, pacing back and forth while thinking what to say to her people._

_Naturally, Finn was nearby, leaning against the volcanic walls with his arms crossed, gazing with a bit of amusement at Flame Princess, who seemed quite jittery. She huffed a few times and stopped to look at the human._

"_What should I say? They're probably expecting an amazing speech or something. I've never done huge announcements before."_

_The king's flames were fluctuating from the tension, giving her the appearance of a signal flare, blinking repeatedly as if to warn of an impending danger. Appropriately, emotional tension from an unstable little lady fit the bill for such a worry. However instead of backing away, Finn just smirked, shook his head, and left the wall to come up to his companion._

"_Don't get so swept up, FP. This should be easy; you've never had trouble yelling at crowds when you're threatening to burn them to ashes."_

_Flame Princess still hadn't caught on to sarcasm, which Finn regretted forgetting after receiving a smack to the side of his head. While rubbing his reddened ear, the hero did his best to chuckle away the hurt._

"_Heh, sorry, just trying to lighten the mood."_

_FP stood there for a moment, pondering what he meant, then suddenly widened her eyes as she realized it._

"_Oh crud, you were joking, weren't you? I'm sorry."_

_Finn brushed it off._

"_No prob, we'll get there someday."_

_The flame king giggled a bit._

"_Even as friends, you're still willing to get smacked around to make me a better person."_

_The human laughed embarrassingly as rubbed the back of his neck._

"_Haha, I guess so. What are you gonna do, right?"_

_The two joined together in the comical moment before finally shaking it off and proceeded to the issue at hand. Finn placed a hand on FP's shoulder._

"_You'll be fine. Just walk out, give a nice strong kingly pose, and show them who's boss- I mean like, in the strength of your words, not like, shooting fire at them."_

_Flame Princess was about to give the hero another strike, but actually snagged the nature of his tone and found the joke. She smiled._

"_Right. Thanks, Finn."_

_The fire elemental turned around and took a deep breath, ready to walk out onto the platform. Suddenly though, her confidence dropped again and her flames dimmed a bit._

"_Aw, I don't know. I'm still nervous. Finn, have you got anything else that can make me feel better about doing th-"_

_She was simultaneously swiveling around to face the human again while stating her thoughts. What met her words was an encouraging embrace from Finn, who wrapped his arms around her and held on for a few seconds to show that he'd be there to help out any way he could. FP was about to return the gesture, driven by motives that her mind couldn't quite process yet. She could feel the hero's righteous heart beating within his chest, ever ready to take action and uplift those in need, whether with the use of his sword, or his generous moral support._

_The fiery girl had her arms raised, ready to place them on Finn's back, but she had waited too long, and the boy pulled out of it before anything could be done. His smile was as confident as his actions, displaying the rigorous need to hold those close to him as high as possible._

"_How's that?"_

_FP took a moment to collect herself, a bit frozen from the past minute. She had a mix of confidence and regret now, knowing she had nothing to fear, but also sad that she didn't get the chance to return the hug. Finn didn't seem to mind the one-sidedness; that was just the kind of guy he was. It made her smile brighter thinking about it._

"_Better."_

_The human's grin was victorious to an extent, as he then prepared to back away and allow the ruler to address her subjects._

"_Finn!"_

_He stopped abruptly and drew a look of concern._

"_What is it, FP?"_

_The flame king stuttered, not quite sure herself why she had stopped him. There was still much conflict in her mind, but certain lines of thought slipped through the confused valleys of her mind. She found herself staring at Finn, as if her body was waiting for a signal to do, something._

_Flame Princess at last received a message from her brain, which caused her head to begin leaning forward and her mouth to slightly shift its shape. However, ominous flashes of thinking shot through her eyes like a projector. She saw Finn, terribly injured on the ground, having lost a great amount of fluids. Next to his unmoving form stood a cloaked assassin, grinning maliciously while holding a bloody knife. _

_FP yanked her head back._

No, _she thought. _I can't allow him to become a target. He'll attract too much attention if he were with me.

_A counter-thought struck, determining that Finn would always be able to protect himself from any threat, any danger. She was worrying for nothing. Her neck once more nodded her face towards the hero. At this moment, yet another argument pushed through. FP saw a massive explosion, herself near death, but worse of all, a badly burned Finn crumpled on the ground, struggling to withstand the pain as he watched the fiery girl lose her stability._

There's one thing he can't protect himself from. Me.

_The final shock actually caused Flame Princess to step back, now noticing that her breathing had become abnormal. Finn was distressed at this point, taking step towards the king and offering his hand for support, which the girl accepted._

"_FP, are you alright? You were wobbling back and forth for a minute there."_

_The ruler of the kingdom shook her head to remove the haziness in her mind and nodded._

"_Yeah, I'm fine, just got a little woozy. Must be the air today."_

_Finn wasn't quite convinced, considering he thought the land was fairly clean of smoke and fumes at the moment. Nevertheless, he didn't want to delay the princess any further and stepped out of the way. _

"_Well, good luck. Knock 'em dead- er, never mind."_

_Flame Princess giggled one last time, having temporarily gotten the hang of certain word choice that actually indicated a positive comment. She calmly approached the balcony and cleared her throat, having also resisted the urge to start crying…_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The first time FP looked back at Pyris, she noticed the girl was frozen, not even blinking as she soaked in the story.

"Are you alright?" the king asked.

The golden-flamed elemental slowly nodded.

"yeah, it's just, that brought back some…not too pleasant memories."

Flame Princess now felt terrible.

"I'm so sorry."

Pyris raised a hand.

"No, it's fine. You couldn't have known. Besides, I asked for it."

The girl smiled a little to confirm the fault as hers. Meanwhile, FP thought it was time to turn the tables.

"Alright, I've spilled my guts to you. How about you do the only fair thing in return?"

Pyris was admittedly nervous about revealing her own story, since she was awkwardly staring at the floor.

"I think…it's better to _show _you."

Following that statement, she got up and motioned for FP to come along toward the front door of the cabin. The king complied and trailed after the mysterious elemental, quite confused. Pyris took hold of the doorknob and swung open the entrance, immediately exposing the interior to the Ice Kingdom's freezing temperatures. Of course, FP had no trouble keeping herself warm.

As the two made their way through the snow, the princess of flames was shocked to finally notice that the slushy substance around her companion wasn't melting, instead leaving behind her actual footprints, which her own heat liquefied moments later. Pyris seemed to notice the young ruler's astonishment and spoke.

"I'm…not exactly a _full _fire elemental."

This much Flame Princess could've guessed by now, seeing as her friend was ignoring physics with each step.

"Were you born this way?" she asked, trying to figure out the situation.

Pyris shook her head.

"There was a certain event that did this to me, an adventure I took several years ago that gave me more than I bargained for. And worst of all, I released something terrible upon Ooo."

FP caught up to the golden-haired elemental and frowned.

"What do you mean?"

The two ladies had by now reached their destination, a partially hidden hill of ice tucked in between two towering mountains. Pyris held up her finger to the ice and began to draw a rune on its glassy surface. The flames she produced were very red, and appeared to be struggling to stay alive. As she finished, the wall began to rumble, eventually cracking and falling apart, revealing a wide entrance through which even a few ogres could fit through.

Pyris motioned for FP to follow, retracting the flames from her drawing back into her finger. This was additionally curious.

"How come you took them back?"

The blonde-like girl looked sadly at her hand.

"My flames can't be separated from my body. Anything I shoot or leave behind, must return to me eventually."

Truly, Pyris had gone through a process that utterly bewildered the flame king. For the moment, she decided to not dig deeper, as it may be a fairly sensitive issue and the strange elemental was only answering back out of politeness.

Seeing as both girls produced their own light, it was no problem to simply walk down into the tunnel previously concealed by the ice. It took a full five minutes to descend into the depths of the strange cavern. All the while, not a word more was spoken by either fire elemental. At last, the end of the tunnel came, revealing an expansive cave with hundreds of icicles hanging from the ceiling.

What was strangest of all was the architecture of the room, which consisted of what appeared to be cages constructed of ice and metal bars. Several chains could be seen winding in and out of them as well. Pyris led the way down to the row of prisons and recommended that the princess stay away from the bars. All was silent, except for the slight sound of heavy breathing, which was being produced from each and every cell.

"What is this? What are kept here?"

Pyris stopped at one of the icy jails, holding her hand up higher and igniting it to serve as a torch to brighten the view of the cage's innards. When light struck what lay inside, FP gasped. It was a large snow golem, the same one that had attacked her earlier. It was now resting, apparently exhausted or bored from the stay in its confinement. Pyris was staring at the being with a hard to read expression.

"They're called ascensions, elemental creatures that are immune to their opposites."

Flame Princess gazed in amazement at the surrounding rows of imprisoning rooms.

"For the last several years, I've been trying to correct my mistake, by capturing each and every one I could find. However, there are obstacles that prevent me from seeking out a large majority of them."

FP looked back to her companion.

"What's stopping you? What happened? How did these…things, get loose?"

Pyris stared at the ground.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry, but I'm asking that you leave it at that."

She gazed back to the princess.

"Once you're feeling back to full health, I want you to go, and pretend you never met me."

The flame king was stunned at the request.

"What! Why? Why would you want to be all alone?"

Pyris disengaged her torch flame and sighed.

"I've caused enough damage to the people of these lands. I don't want them to bare my burden."

Flame Princess crossed her arms.

"You sure are stubborn, you know that?"

The blonde actually smirked a bit.

"Maybe, but I've been called worse."

FP raised an eyebrow.

"Like…?"

Pyris grinned.

"Stupid."

A trigger went off somewhere in Flame Princess's head, a knock on the door of her consciousness, and she knew who was on the other side. But instead of letting the emotion back in, she shook it off and placed a hand on Pyris's shoulder.

"Please, I want to help, it's the right thing to do."

The golden-haired elemental looked her in the eyes carefully.

"What makes it right? You don't even know me."

FP shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. I can't walk away from someone in trouble."

Pyris smirked again.

"You're starting to sound like a hero."

Flame Princess didn't see that one coming.

"But I don't need one, I can tell you that."

The flame king hardened her gaze.

"I'm not asking to be your hero. I'm asking to be your friend."

With those words, Pyris's expression shifted to a brief disbelief.

"Let me help you find more ascensions, we can fix this, together, and then maybe you can find some peace."

Pyris couldn't respond for a long time, just staring into FP's eyes as if trying to find some truth in them. Eventually though, she smiled.

"Alright, fine. I accept your offer."

The two elementals shook hands, looking a fair bit more enthusiastic than several minutes ago. However, the vow was interrupted by a bang on the cage bars nearby. The snow golem had woken up, and was now growling at the duo from behind its prison. Pyris glared at it and walked up to the cage, producing a flame sword on her arm.

"Shut it! Get back in your corner!"

The golem just roared in response. To FP's surprise, Pyris roared back. The golem then took its turn, then Pyris again, back and forth as the two's shouting echoed off the icy walls of the cave. Eventually though, the snowy being seemed to fall back, leaving a somewhat intimidated expression on its face as it crawled into the back of the cage. Pyris dispersed her sword and walked back over to Flame Princess.

"Sometimes they need to be reminded who's in charge."

The fiery ruler just stared at her, completely stunned at what she just saw. Her companion tilted her head.

"You ok, FP?"

Her face, that expression of concern, the way she handled that golem's tantrum. All of it and more were resonating in Flame Princess's head, desperately trying to make the fire elemental realize the obvious. But she didn't let it. After the fiery ruler stated she was fine, Pyris led the two of them back out of the cave, heading back to the girl's cabin.

Once outside, the golden-haired lady sealed the hill back up by giving it a strong kick, causing a pile of slushy snow to fall down and cover the entrance. Soon enough, the slushy substance would repair the ice hole and hide the cavern once more. As the duo walked back towards Pyris's house, FP struck up a conversation.

"So, how do you fight ascensions if they're immune to flames?"

Her companion shrugged.

"I just beat them up, no big deal; usually with a sword or my bare hands."

She lifted her fists to demonstrate.

"It can actually be fun. Fighting, kicking butt, I always loved it all, along with adventuring of course."

As she reminisced about her past, Flame Princess decided it was probably time to retreat to the Fire Kingdom.

"Listen, Pyris, my people are likely freaking out at this point. Is it ok if we meet back up tomorrow? I can fly over after I finish my royal junk."

The strange elemental nodded with a smile.

"Sure. I'll be waiting. Have a good day, FP. It's been a while since I've hung out with anyone and talked. I guess I really am too stubborn, or stupid. Whatever."

She was babbling and laughing at this point, and so Flame Princess bid a goodbye and flew off into the sky, eager to make sure that her kingdom wasn't in a state of panic. Even more so however, she was eager to return the next day and hang out with Pyris. As she streaked back into the volcanic lands of home, the flame king pondered recent events.

_I found a friend, just like you said._

But did it really count, when that friend was almost exactly like Finn.

* * *

**_Picking up the pieces again, getting back into the motion of writing._**

**Riset36: I am not responsible for loss of health, sanity, time, or other mental/physical aspects as a result of my fics. Haha, just kidding. Thanks.**

**_Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!_**


	7. Chapter 7

As if the desert wasn't harsh enough being a fiery oven, nighttime transformed it into a freezer. As the moon illuminated the quiet sands to a dusty white hue, two lone figures traversed the dunes, nearly dragging their feet due to exhaustion. The starry sky was their only distraction from the aching in their legs, which threatened to give out at any moment.

Just like Finn's new companion had said, the moisture in the quicksand was on a timer, not abnormal for the mystic desert. By the time they were released however, the sun was already burying itself in the horizon, leaving nothing but darkness for the first hour or so of walking.

Luckily, Aqua Prince knew the area quite well; as he told Finn he lived nearby. The human took this as a shock, not seeing how a water elemental could survive in an arid environment such as this. The hydrolyzed being didn't mention anything beyond that fact, apparently hiding the more personal details, which Finn respected.

"So, how come you live way out here anyway?"

The young hero was trying his best to restrain his curiosity, but figured it wasn't that bad if he was just making conversation. Aqua Prince sighed a bit, yet surprisingly answered back.

"Well, I'm not one who particularly likes secrets so I guess there's no harm in sharing my story."

Finn was hit somewhere in his mind by the reply, but held close attention to the elemental's tale.

"A few years ago, I went on a, um…"

"Adventure?" Finn suggested.

AP shook his head.

"Mm, more like a treasure hunt."

The human shrugged.

"Close enough. What were you looking for?"

The prince gazed sadly up at the moon.

"It's…I suppose you could call it an artifact. An item that would be able to help me get over my…problem."

Finn raised an eyebrow.

"Problem?"

AP nodded.

"I don't exactly have what you might call a stable elemental matrix."

The hero just barely managed not to trip after the words registered in his ears.

"H-how so?"

Aqua Prince held a hand to his abdomen, recalling the memories.

"I was born with an unusually erratic power. My matrix is essentially a storm waiting to lash out on the land. If I ever get really REALLY angry, I could flood the entire continent within minutes."

Finn was admittedly intimidated by such a potential disaster. He already felt nervous about ginormous bodies of water, but to have every bit of land become ocean, that just plain made him shudder.

"So you're saying this 'artifact' could stabilize you?"

AP nodded again.

"Yeah, according to the rumors. But I was willing to take the chance, I really didn't want to destroy all of Ooo one day if I got too upset. And trust me, my anger issues were pretty bad."

Finn was incredibly curious about his companion by this point, beginning to subconsciously draw similarities to someone he knew.

"Did you find it?"

The prince hung his head.

"Unfortunately."

This confused the human.

"How so?"

AP held up his hand and tried to shoot some water out, only to have it spurt out but then refuse to separate from him.

"It didn't do what I hoped. Instead of removing my more volatile energy, it took away a good portion of my elemental powers."

He retracted the aqueous material back into his appendage.

"My water can't fully leave my body, which makes it difficult to deal with certain things."

Finn recalled the battle with the fire cobra.

"You mean like that snake?"

AP nodded.

"Exactly."

The human dug deeper, seeing as the prince held a morality of not hiding things.

"So why weren't you able to douse it?"

Aqua Prince looked over at Finn for a second, seeing how drawn the hero was to finding out the mysterious reasoning behind the flaming reptile's endurance.

"Like I said earlier, it wasn't a normal fire cobra. It's one of the creatures created when I was dumb enough to mess with the artifact. After draining part of my power, it unleashed some kind of shockwave that affected a large number of elementals across the land. These beasts became immune to their opposites, effectively making them extremely hard to deal with."

Finn was astounded by such a phenomenon.

"Whoa, that's heavy."

The prince sighed again.

"Sure is."

The pair had reached a tall dune, which AP stated was the last obstacle between them and his home. While they climbed, Finn resumed his questioning.

"So is that why you stay in this place? To hunt down these…"

"Ascensions."

"Yeah, that."

Aqua Prince helped Finn up to the peak of the dune, from which the two could finally see the silhouette of some sort on the horizon.

"Yes and no."

The human groaned.

"Dude, you are confusing."

AP chuckled a bit.

"Heh, yeah, I know. The thing is, I'm not able to leave this desert without a grave consequence."

At this, Finn grew concerned.

"What do you mean, dude?"

The water elemental stared out across the desert, as if studying the walls of a prison.

"One last thing that that stupid relic did was the most messed up deal ever. I found out that if I don't stay in an opposite environment, my body starts to decay at an accelerated rate."

Finn nearly gasped, horrified by the awful situation.

"That's terrible. You can never leave?"

The aqueous prince shook his head.

"Nope. I'll be stuck here for the rest of my life. Alone."

The noble hero of Ooo couldn't take it at this point.

"Aw heck no! I can't let this go on."

Aqua Prince nearly jumped at the human's sudden outburst.

"What do you mean?"

Finn held out a hand to the prince and grinned determinately.

"AP, I'd like to be your bro-ham; we can hang out, fight ascensions, and go on totally math adventures in the desert. What do you say?"

The water elemental was stunned, staring at the young hero with his mouth hanging open.

"You- you would do that? Come all the way out here just to hang?"

Finn nodded strongly.

"Absolutely. A few years ago, I found out how awful it can be to be alone and isolated. That's not something I want to have for anyone that I know."

While the human took a moment to knock a certain string of thoughts out of his head, Aqua Prince slowly reached out and accepted a handshake from the boy. He smiled, letting Finn know he'd done the right thing.

"This means so much, Finn. I can't thank you enough."

The hero chuckled.

"Sure you can. You can show me your crib."

AP chuckeld back and gestured for the human to follow him over the dune's edge.

"Meet you at the bottom…bro."

With that, the water elemental threw himself off the side, shouting out excitedly as he generated a board from his water and slid down the dune at high speed. Meanwhile, Finn frowned.

_That is so not fair._

He then grinned.

_If I wasn't prepared, that is._

The hero reached into his pack and pulled out his own board. Granted it was a boogie board since a full sized one couldn't fit, but nevertheless an effective means of downward travel. He swiftly jumped after Aqua Prince, who already had a head start.

Unfortunately for the water elemental, he had underestimated Finn's surfing skill, seen as the human eventually overtook him down the dune.

"Oh no you don't."

AP crouched and did a quick hop with his board, allowing him to sail over Finn's head while the hero looked on in awe.

"Whoa; skills."

The prince smirked as he landed back in the sand, enjoying his overtake. However, Finn wasn't giving up. He made his way closer to the elemental and slightly dug one side of his board into the sand, causing a pileup of the substance in front of AP, whose speed decreased significantly.

"Hey, not cool!"

The hero grinned and was on his way, ahead of the watery being once more. As Finn laughed at his ingenious maneuver, his eyes suddenly began to feel hazy. His mind reeled in a different location, replacing the slanted dune with what seemed to be images of a volcano. He could hear giggling in the distance, recognizing who it was but at the same time not quite sure.

Unfortunately for the human, Aqua Prince took advantage of his interruptive vision and took the lead again, gloating the rest of the way down as both guys made it to the base of the sandy mountain. Finn had snapped out of his trance and quickly replaced his board into his pack.

"Wow! That was awesome, FP!"

The prince lost his smile and confusingly stared at his friend.

"What did you say?"

The hero's own grin faded fast as he realized what he had just said.

"Uh, sorry. I got a little tongue twisted."

He laughed a bit in an attempt to shake off the awkwardness, which seemed to work for AP.

"It's cool. How did you learn to surf like that?"

Finn nervously looked around, blocking out the memories trying to flood down the door of his mind.

"I kinda hang out in the Fire Kingdom a lot. They've got some awesome lava streams there where the conditions are perfect for some fast sliding."

AP was intrigued by this.

"That's pretty cool. I could actually go there, since it's my opposite element."

Finn nodded, realizing this too.

"Oh yeah. I'll have to see if I could get you over there some day. We'd have a blast!"

The two boys chuckled again, enjoying their guy talk and company.

"You're one awesome dude, Finn. I wish I had friends like you when I was younger."

The human was curious again.

"What was it like back then?"

Aqua Prince sighed as the two of them started walking towards the silhouette in the distance.

"Well, because of my 'condition', my big sis didn't really let me out much. I never even left the kingdom until my quest."

Finn tilted his head.

"You mean Water Princess?"

AP nodded.

"Yeah. Heh, if you're wondering why I use 'aqua' instead of 'water' well, it helps to distinguish which one of us someone is talking to. Plus, saying WP is sort of a mouthful."

The pair laughed again, agreeing on the comment.

"Anyway, I wasn't allowed out of the kingdom's main area, which included the giant lake in which it's located. Sure, it's not like I was locked up,"

Finn's expression drifted into a slight trance.

"More like trapped in one of those zoo pens. Kinda sucked."

The hero beside Aqua Prince was staring intently into space, not quite paying attention.

"Still, I hated it for all those years; not being able to see the outside world. I know it was for my own good. If I got mad at some outsider I'm sure Ooo would be a lost world hidden under the waves by now."

He chuckled a bit at the thought, although it wasn't exactly genuine. In the meantime, Finn was still in his daze, now also filled with memories of the deep ocean. The combined visions reminded him of a terrifying experience from not too long ago. He reached over and touched a scar on his upper right arm, feeling it sting slightly…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Today's attendance to the Fire Kingdom had been a little different, as Flame Princess had requested that Finn come quite a bit earlier than usual. At first he thought there would be mountains of paperwork and they'd need all the time available, but this quickly changed when a few guards led him out of the palace upon arrival and escorted him to the lava lake behind it._

_Upon arriving at the spot, he found FP and several of her royal advisors standing near the edge of the pool of molten rock. The king herself appeared nervous, while the two flanking her diligently stood by. As Finn came close, he cleared his throat._

"_Hey, FP."_

_The fiery girl immediately twirled around and smiled._

"_Finn! You're here, thanks so much."_

_She walked to meet him and gave a friendly hug. Once the two broke it off, the both of them strolled back towards the lava._

"_So what's going on?"_

_FP gazed sadly at the lake._

"_There's been…an issue. It's all my fault, actually."_

_Finn was surprised at this, never having known the princess to complicate her own kingdom._

"_What happened?"_

_The pair had reached the edge of the glowing material, where one of the advisors overheard the hero's question._

"_That's classified," he stated quickly._

_Finn raised an eyebrow._

"_Classified?"_

_He swung around to face Flame Princess._

"_But that sounds like a secr-"_

_The young ruler had covered the human's mouth urgently with her hand, also giving him a hasty 'ssh!' After looking around as if to make sure no one was around besides the four of them, she released her hold on the boy's lips. Her words came in whispers._

"_I know, I know. But this is __**really **__tense, Finn. I…lost something very sensitive. It fell into the lake a while ago when Cinnamon Bun was messing around with his fire wolf. The little guy snatched it out of my hand with his teeth thinking we were playing fetch and spat it out right into the lava."_

_The king grimly nodded towards her advisors._

"_These two bums are dead set against me going down to get it myself, supposedly due to some really dangerous creature swimming around. But, due to the nature of this item, we can't send down just anyone, it would be too controversial. The kingdom could be in an uproar if anyone finds out!"_

_Finn held up his hands._

"_Alright, I get it. But that still doesn't tell me why I'm here."_

_Flame Princess took a deep breath._

"_Well, there's no one around that I trust more than you."_

_Such words set off butterflies in Finn's stomach, but he briskly settled them down to stay professional._

"_I'm not saying you have to, and believe me I really don't want to ask, but, would you be willing to head down and retrieve it?"_

_The human was honestly expecting this, but was a bit shocked nonetheless. He thought about it for a moment, but realized he was totally game for it. Not just for the thrill of diving into lava, or the potential 'beast' hiding within, but also a chance to impress FP. _

"_Ok. Sure. I'll do it."_

_Flame Princess and her advisors were stunned._

"_Really?" she asked in total bewilderment._

_Finn shrugged with a grin._

"_Of course. I can't let down my king. It's unlike a hero."_

_He gave a playful bow, causing FP to giggle a bit, which Finn greatly enjoyed. The fiery girl then looked carefully at her friend, smiling happily._

"_I really appreciate this, Finn. You'll be doing the kingdom a great service."_

_The hero nearly blushed, but kept his cool and shook off his slight anticipation._

"_So uh, how do I go into lava without, you know, getting barbequed?"_

_FP nodded to one of the advisors, who stepped forward and faced the human._

"_Try not to move," he ordered casually._

_Finn obeyed the command and watched as the fire elemental began to chant what seemed to be a flame shield spell, however, even though he couldn't understand what was being said, several of the hisses were noticeably different. Eventually, the man reached down and touched Finn's forehead, enveloping him in another blue hue that was darker than the one he already had on._

"_Um, I already had a shield on, you know."_

_The advisor sighed._

"_This is a not too well-known alternative protection. It can stand the extreme temperatures of molten rock and should allow you to breath to an extent. However, it is not as durable, be careful around sharp objects."_

_Finn admired his shaded tone and looked back to Flame Princess._

"_Awesome! Well, I should get going. What am I looking for?"_

_The king resumed her uncomfortable gaze and hung her head._

"_Well, you'll know it when you see it. Just, be careful, ok?"_

_Instead of a reply, she heard a splash nearby. Looking back up, FP found that the human had already dived in._

_..._

_Finn felt quite strange sinking in the thick goop known as lava. Curiously, he felt safer than if he were sinking in actual water, strange considering the surrounding liquid was much more dangerous. As the human peacefully floated down to the bottom of the lake, he watched as rising compressed gases passed him by. It was rather interesting to see how far he could view through the dense liquid._

_Soon enough though, Finn's legs struck solid rock, or rather rock that was hard enough for him not to sink into it. Admiring the floor of the lake, he proceeded to look around for whatever object seemed out of place. As FP had suggested, it didn't take long to find. A rectangle-shaped item lay flat on the submerged volcanic ground, distinguished especially by the royal seal of the Fire Kingdom on its front. _

_Bending over and picking it up, Finn took a closer look at the object, which happened to be a book. He examined every inch of it, but couldn't quite figure out what it contained. Risking opening 'classified' info, he cautiously cracked the cover open and slowly placed his eye upon the first page. It took him about five seconds to immediately snap it shut and turn red in the face._

Oh Glob, _he thought. _This is FP's diary.

_Embarrassed and ashamed beyond belief, Finn shook his head to ignore the momentary discomfort in his righteous heart. He thanked the four-faced deity that what he read wasn't anything revealing. With a quiet push off the floor, the human began to swim for the surface, eager to get the confidential material far away from him. As he swum, he suddenly had a feeling of being watched. _

_Stopping for a moment, Finn jerked his suspended body in all directions, making sure he wasn't being followed. There was nothing in the vast orange goop. Still on guard though, he continued swimming. When the hero was but a few feet from breaking out of the lava, he felt a pulse against his leg, signaling that something besides him had disturbed the molten rock nearby._

_Swiftly retracting his limb as a precaution, Finn darted his eyes all over the place, at this point a bit fearful of what might be lurking in his vicinity. Still nothing. He noticed his heart rate had increased, meaning his body was telling him 'face it, bro, you're scared'. Silence filled the molten lake as Finn somehow forgot that his goal was to get out of there ASAP. Then, a single movement, from behind._

_Twirling around on instinct, Finn was immediately met by the powerful maw of the lava lake predator. The young hero's muscles acted on their own, as if his own body was desperate to preserve itself. Unfortunately, the deadly beast quickly turned around, rearing for another go. _

_An obsidian shark pierced through Finn's eyes with its own ghostly yellow ones. The human found that he couldn't move again, unable to take his sight off the flesh shredding rows of teeth within the creature's jaws. Vision became blurry as he watched it strike again, once more missing only because his mind was playing the puppeteer. _

_However, the shark would not be underestimated again. It swerved sharply once more, preparing to clamp down its jaws on the helpless human. In the last split second, Finn found the surface with his pupils, regaining control and putting one final push into thrusting himself to safety._

_He succeeded in avoiding the predator's crunch, but not cleanly. Being underwater (or rather a version of such) his scream was muffled in the thick liquid around him. Blood only ran for a split second before the tear in Finn's enhanced flame shield allowed the lava to cauterize his wound, shooting further pain into his system._

_When he broke into open air, the hero could say nothing. His vocal chords had run their last course during his shriek from underneath the boiling lava. All Finn saw before passing out on what seemed to be the edge of the lake, was Flame Princess, appearing to be shouting his name in fright as she ran to gather the injured human in her arms. _

_Then, all went black._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Finn, you still with me?"

Aqua Prince turned around, only to see the hero instantly fall flat on his face, unconscious.

"Finn!"

The water elemental ran back a few steps where his friend had fallen behind and gathered him up.

"Say something! Finn!"

Terrified, AP lifted the young hero off the sand and entered a desperate jog to his desert dwelling, hoping to Grod's sake that the human would awaken.

* * *

**_Those of you who don't read the comics, Water Princess is an actual character. maybe not in the show, but still copyrighted. _**

**Riset36: I hope that answered your question.**

_**Hope you enjoyed and thanks for any comments/reviews!**_


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